Back to Home
by miller26e
Summary: Miley left three years ago to get away from all the fame and recognition. Coming back she realizes that it's still the same drama-filled world it was when she left. Will she be able to cope with it or will she retreat back to her quiet life? *Niley*
1. Chapter 1

So this idea came to me a really long time ago, but I just put it on paper/Word last week because I was bored. This is just the prologue, it gives you guys the much needed background information. Though, not everything is explained…

This **is** a Niley story, so if you don't like them as a couple then I suggest that you don't read.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Disney or any of the people that are used in this story. Cause if I did, well…certain things would be different. :D OH! And this is completely legal because no last names will be used. Happy now?**

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It was weird, this feeling of being back home.

But really, what was "home"? Is it the place where you sleep or the place where you have people you love surrounding you? I guess I always imagined it as the latter. For the longest time home was where I had family and friends to keep me safe and happy. But then I realized that it was so much more than that because the people you love won't always be around.

I learned that the hard way.

So then, what is home? Do you want to hear my definition? I think it can be more than one place. It's somewhere you can let yourself be free; where you can let yourself be you. No hiding behind the public facade, no adhering to the "rules" set by society (not that I ever did), and absolutely no losing yourself in the world that we call Hollywood.

For awhile I stuck to this definition and it always fit the place I called home. First Tennessee, then California, life was accelerating faster and faster each day, so much that I missed the point where my life stopped being my life; when I was being controlled by the higher ups and the more powerful. It came as a shock, although others viewed it as a surprise that I had not realized it earlier on.

So for months on end I went on with my life, always second-guessing myself, always wondering if what I was doing was for me or for someone else. But that wasn't me, it wasn't who I was. I saw myself as strong and independent, not the weak person I saw in the mirror every day.

That was around the time I had decided to leave.

Demi and I had bought a modest apartment on the one of the many beaches that lined the Southern California coastline. We went in fifty-fifty. There was no "Oh, I'll get the rent for you this month" or "Just pay me back when you can". Doing that would result in a one way ticket to one of those reality-TV court shows. We had seen too much and lived through too much to be anything but cautious.

Things were great for awhile. Demi and I were still the best of friends, practically sisters, and living together didn't change that. People flitted in and out of our apartment: friends, family, boyfriends. She was dating Joe (everyone saw that coming) and I had been dating Liam for a little while. My relationship ended with the two of us remaining close friends, and I continued to date other boys, never letting it be anything more than casual.

But I remember that single day when everything changed. As a joke one day, I sent out resumes to publishing companies and newspapers all over the country, a few were even sent across the Atlantic. Demi of course was encouraging and laughing right along with me, neither of us was actually expecting that anyone would offer me a job. I didn't have any experience writing, unless you counted songwriting, which I doubt they did, and I didn't highlight or say what my current job was. So imagine my surprise when I get a reply from a small newspaper located in the outskirts of London, telling me they would love if I came to work for them. And on top of all that, they had no idea who "Miley, the teen pop sensation" was, (contrary to popular belief, not everyone did).

I took the job.

I was so tired of what a mess my life was that I just wanted to escape. Demi was gone that weekend; she had some PR thing in Chicago. That Monday when she walked through the door, I was on my out. I packed a lot of my stuff in boxes and I was having them shipped to my new place. The rest of my things were to stay here, just in case I ever came back. Demi cried a bit when I told her everything, but she quickly pulled herself together and helped me load everything up.

She drove me to the airport and I made her promise not to tell anyone where I had gone; to keep it an absolute secret and to act like she had no idea where I was (because if someone found out she knew, they would have no trouble getting it out of her). I expected her to argue, but she just nodded with a soft smile and said, "Of course."

My last words to her on that day were, "I love you best friend." Then I turned and boarded the plane.

My time across the ocean was so much better than I ever thought possible. I was actually thriving but in a different way than I was as a performer. For once I was actually happy; I was always smiling, but not the fake smile that everyone thought was my real one. They would say, "Doesn't she look _happy_?" when the truth was, I had used that same smile for every situation, unless you really knew me at my actual happy moments. So the fans and the paparazzi always thought I was so _happy_, when in reality I was not. But they didn't need to know that.

I met new people, met new friends, and my work life was simple. Well, not simple, but simpler than it was before. I quickly moved up the ranks of my job. I loved the small town life that my new home had. The best part was that no one knew who I was. It surprised me to no end when I first found out, but I guess I got used to after a while. Apparently the town did not have a lot of contact with the "outside" world. The newspaper printed facts about actual important stuff, not about who wore a certain dress better. They weren't exactly huge fans of gossip or the lives of people that they would most likely never meet. It was not as if they were Amish or anything, they just preferred to stay inside their world; most of the time, if you grew up there, you didn't leave. It was a very strange custom, but it was just the way they lived their life. Although, it didn't stop the town from thriving considerably, so I guess some people knew who I was. But they were nice enough not to say anything.

Again, my dating life was almost non-existent, except for the string less relationships that I did end up having. As for my social life, I had made many good friends in my three years overseas. The most notable were Alexa James and Kristen Marks, two of the sweetest girls you will ever meet on the other side of the Atlantic. They were the same age as me and they were interns when I first started working at the paper. The two of them had grown up together, but they automatically took me under their wing, even though I was technically their boss. We became very close, although I never told them about my previous life, no matter how many times they asked. They asked a lot too, always trying to catch me off guard, but it never worked. I was too accustomed to sneaky interviewers and the crazy paparazzi.

As for Demi, the two of us stayed very close. She kept her promise and didn't tell anyone where I was or that she even knew where I was; although, I did give her permission to tell Joe because I trusted him enough. We always met in a secluded place. I never set foot in America again; they always met me somewhere in London. They would stay for a week, and then go back home. There were a few times where we came close to being photographed together, but we had always managed to miraculously avoid those doomed confrontations.

But then came that fateful two o'clock in the morning phone call from none other than my best friend herself. I was groggy when I flipped my cell phone open and mumbled an irritated hello into the receiver. The first thing I thought next was that my eardrums had to have broken because of her yelling the fact that she was getting married. I lay speechless for a couple minutes, letting her ramble on and on about how he proposed and such. When she finally calmed down enough for me to speak (after she told, not asked, me that I was going to be her maid of honor), my first words were, "I'm coming home."

She of course seemed confused at first, asking why I decided that I was coming home now. I in turn told her that there was no way in hell that I was going to plan her entire wedding with a seven-hour time difference between us. Demi squealed and started going off on the fact that my room was still waiting for me, untouched except for the couple times she had set foot in there. I just smiled and let her have her moment; I wasn't sure if this was the right thing for me to do, but if it made her that happy, then I figured it couldn't be too far off from the right thing.

We finally hung up an hour later and I got those much needed extra couple hours of sleep. That morning I took a deep breath and walked into the office, the place that I had come to regard as my second home. The place was buzzing as usual, which made it a little harder, knowing that I would be leaving that familiarity (but I had done it once before and it hadn't be that bad, right?). I walked right up to my boss, McKenna Olsen, and told her that I was leaving. To me, it seemed as if the entire place went silent. Maybe I was over exaggerating, but it literally felt like you would be able to hear a pin drop. Dumbfounded, she asked my why and I told her that it was just time for me to stop running away and to face all my demons that I left back home.

Everybody was sad, more so than I thought they would be, and a lot of them begged me to stay. But I stuck by my decision, rationalizing it in my head until I was absolutely positive that this was the right thing.

It took me an entire two weeks to pack everything up and have it shipped back to California; it took a much longer this time, maybe because I knew the chances of me coming back were slim. Again I asked Demi and Joe not to say anything about my return. Hey, if I was coming back, I was going to come back with a bang.

Kristen and Alexa drove me to the airport and we shared a tearful goodbye. I think they could sense that I probably was not coming back. They still had no idea who I really was; I didn't have the guts to tell them, even after I knew I was leaving.

I took a deep breath and boarded the plane (wasn't this familiar?) before I could get scared and change my mind. Just in case, I kept my head down on the plane to avoid any fan situations, and I quickly fell asleep.

I woke up to the stewardess gently shaking me, "Miss, we are about to land. We need you to put your seat up."

"Oh, of course," I smiled, still tired, and I put the seat into the upright position.

Overhead, the pilot was speaking on the intercom, "We have now arrived in Los Angeles, California. It is an absolutely beautiful day here in the city. Thank you for flying with us!"

But all I heard after the words 'we have now arrived in Los Angeles, California' were these words constantly repeated in my mind:

'_Welcome home Miley…Welcome home Miley…Welcome home Miley...'_

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**Like? Hate? Maybe even love?**

**I actually don't know where this story is going which means it will be a little while between updates. And I only want to write it if people want to read it. AND I do have opinions on certain subjects but I will try to keep them to myself unless it is absolutely necessary for me to put them into my writing or even share them with you guys through these wonderful little author's notes. :D**

**Questions? **

**Follow me on twitter// **_**imagineyourlife **_

**And a huge hug and tons of thanks to all my twitter/fanfiction friends. Team M for being an amazing writer and listening to all my issues. LostInLoveex3 for being equally awesome and another great writer and for helping me come up with the name 'Kristen'. LoveInEMinor, Happy Belated Birthday! nickcharming for being completey awsome after only a day of knowing each other and well...being Katelyn.(: And finally the biggest thanks to my bestest friend whom I have never met, JustBreathex3, or Auri as I like to call her. She forced the Niley writing bug into my mind. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

So, I'm hoping that people are going to like this story. Again, I have no idea where it's headed. Although I do have random events that I want to happen so we'll see how that goes. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! It means a lot. So…on to the first chapter.

**Disclaimer: This is legal because NO last names are used. Oh, and I don't own anything except for the plot. Yeah…**

**--**

I walked off the plane and made my way towards baggage claim. Hmm…how ironic is it that my song actually fits my situation for a second time? _'I hopped off the plane at LAX with my dream and my cardigan…' _It was as if it was mocking me.

I shook my head to try to force the song out of my head. Unfortunately, it persisted until I physically smacked myself across the head. Yeah, I earned some strange looks for that.

Surprisingly, I found my bags really quickly (which I found weird because I always had this curse where it usually took forever for me to locate them). Then I scanned the crowd for the familiar head of black hair. It didn't take long to find her; she was obviously looking for me too. I half-ran, half-walked over to where she was standing.

"Hey there best friend," I exclaimed when I got close enough.

A huge grin spread across her face, "Miley!"

I was engulfed in a huge hug, "Demi!"

She pulled away and gave me once-over, to make sure that I was alright. Apparently she approved because she flashed me a smile.

"You look good girly. Really good."

"Well I feel good too. It's nice to be back in the states."

Demi smiled at me and reached for one of my bags, "Joe's right outside, he has the car."

"Okay, let's go. You never know when the paparazzi are going to show up."

"Seriously…though I don't think they are around today. Something is going on downtown or something. I don't pay attention to that stuff; I just realized this morning that they were stalking my front yard today."

We started walking towards the car. When I stepped out onto the sunny Los Angeles street, a rush of happiness filled up my veins. It was one of those feelings that only come around every once and a while and you have to be really lucky to feel it. I breathed in the air, as polluted as it was, and I felt so content.

Walking beside me, Demi was still rambling about anything and everything. She was probably trying to catch me up on all the stuff I had missed over the last three years. I didn't have the energy to remind her that not only had we talked every single day on the phone, but I did have cable and wifi in Great Britain.

We had reached large, silver SUV when I was startled from my sedative state by none other than Joe. He jumped out of the car as soon as he saw me coming and wrapped me in a giant bear hug.

"Miles!" he yelled while squeezing the life out of me.

"Joe…can't…breathe," I gasped.

He just chuckled and gave me an even harder squeeze before finally letting go. Joe took a quick glance at me, probably giving me a once-over just like Demi had done. I have such good friends. Although I quickly changed my mind after Joe's next comment:

"You have more stuff?! About a thousand boxes arrived at your house; I thought you'd show up empty-handed, not with three more suitcases!"

I rolled my eyes, "Ha-ha Joe, very funny. I didn't make fun of you when you brought all those hair products during the tour all those years ago. So shut it."

"Yeah hun," Demi chimed in, "shut it. We don't want Miss Miley disappearing back to the other side of the pond. We just got her back."

"Fine, fine," Joe hugged me again, "I missed you Miley. Welcome home. Now let's grab your armful of bags and hit the road."

He picked two of them up (what a gentleman) and threw them in the trunk. I took the last one and brought it with me into the backseat. Although, that was after some arguing with Demi about who would sit in the back. She insisted that I sit in the front, to 'take in the sights of LA again', but I told her that I had already seen enough of LA. Plus, I felt that the newly engaged couple should get to sit next to each other. So, in the end, I won. Backseat for me.

In the car, I was pretty much silent, just taking in the city. That was something I haven't been able to do in three years.

Joe and Demi were obviously being all cutesy in the in the front of the car. They were all smiles and every once and a while their hands would intertwine. And I just sat in the back, watching them, and thinking, 'How the hell did they get so lucky?' Because they were lucky, so lucky to have found each other so early in life and for being able to stay together through all the crap that life threw at them.

Why can't my love life be like that?

"Hey Miles?" Joe called from the front seat.

"Yeah?"

He looked up into his rearview mirror so that I have full view of his face, "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too big brother, me too."

The rest of the car ride was filled with our laughter. I swear, I can't remember a time when I laughed harder. I got out of the car clutching my side and unable to talk.

"And then he said, 'No, I want a banana!'" Demi finished.

I started cracking up all over again, "Oh Joe, how have I lived without your endless amount of humor?"

"I don't know Miley. I'm still shocked that you're standing in front of me. I thought you would be dead without a little dose of my awesomeness every day."

I rolled my eyes, because of course Joe would say something like that.

"Very funny Joe. Now grab my bags for me."

I walked over to Demi and linked my arm through her, "Let's go see this house best friend."

"Miles, it's not like you haven't seen it before. You used to live here, remember?"

"I know, but I haven't been here in three years. Who knows what's going to be different about it."

I pushed open the front door to a sight that left me speechless.

"It's exactly the same."

And it was. It was the same furniture, the same kitchen appliances, the same artwork on the walls. Of course there were the few minor changes, such as the new photographs and the flowers on the coffee table. But other than that, everything was exactly the same as it was when I left all those years ago.

"But…how…?" I questioned. Truthfully, I didn't even know why I was so shocked. It wasn't anything life-changing, but it made me feel, even if was only for a second, that I had never left in the first place.

Demi and Joe had been watching me the entire time, gauging my reaction. They both probably thought I was insane now, freaking out over the fact that the house hadn't changed. But I guess they already knew I was insane anyway, so it's all good.

Demi reached for my hand and said softly, "I didn't want you to get lost when you finally did decide to come back."

I could feel soft tears rolling down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them off before I became a total mess.

"Why am I even crying?" I laughed through my tears.

The two of them wrapped their arms around my body. It was a comforting gesture that helped relax me instantly.

"You're home now Miles, everything is going to be okay," Joe said.

I took a deep breath, "Is everything going to be okay? I haven't been back in the states for three years and just because the house hasn't changed doesn't mean everything else hasn't. I mean for one, look at the reason why I came back. The two of you are getting married! And I know that everyone saw it coming because you guys are Jemi and you're so perfect for each other, but it feels like just yesterday that you guys started dating. I missed so much while I was gone and I'm so afraid that I won't be able to catch up now that I'm back."

"Honey, look at me," Demi said, turning me around so that was looking straight at her, "You're going to be fine. And do you want to know how I know that? Because you are one of the strongest people I know. No one else would have been able to leave like you did. No one else would have had the guts to leave their entire life behind to start over. So you can definitely do this. All you have to do is be yourself and show the rest of the world your immense strength."

I thought for a minute about what she said. Somehow my best friend always knew how to cheer me up.

"Okay…okay," I sighed, "Thank you Dem…just thanks."

"Of course girly! Now, Joe will grab your bags and then we can start unpacking everything."

"I'll grab her bags?" Joe asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yes you will," she glanced down at her fiancée's empty hands, "I see you didn't bring any of her bags inside."

His eyes went wide at her pointed look, "Uh…I'm going to go get them…now."

I watched as quickly turned around and walked back to the car, "Oh boy, you've got that boy whipped."

"Yes, yes I do. Though I don't usually use my powers over him, but I figured you deserved it this time."

"Well thank you. Those bags were very heavy."

She laughed, "Come on, let's go check out your room."

We walked through the house and down the hallway that lead to my bedroom. Demi tried to be dramatic by opening my door slowly, but I still knew what to expect when I walked in: boxes, upon boxes, upon boxes. Oh, and my bed and the furniture that I had left behind, but those were covered by boxes too.

"Um…whoa."

"I know right? When they all showed up, Joe just about had a heart attack."

"Well…I'm really sorry. I swear, when I was packing all my stuff up, it seemed like a lot less."

Demi just waved it off, "Don't worry about it. This house is just as much yours as it is mine."

"I know but still…" I sighed, "Do you want to start helping me unpack?"

"Yeah! Hold on one second, let me go grab something." She quickly walked out of the room leaving me to stare at the obscene amounts of junk that had accumulated. Seriously, there was no way that I needed all this stuff.

Demi came back into the room with Joe trailing behind her. At first I thought she left to go get him, but then I saw the iPod she had in her hands.

"Thank you Joe for bringing in my bags," I said to him sweetly. He was grumbling from the heavy weight he was carrying. Hey, he didn't have to bring in all my bags at once.

"You're…welcome," he grunted, heaving them onto my already messy bed.

"Joe, you're free for the rest of the day. Miley and I are going to unpack everything and I'm sure you don't want to stick around for that."

"Alright. I might head over to Nick's or something. I'm sure he'll be delighted by my presence."

I visibly tensed at the mention of my ex. We hadn't spoken since I left. We weren't exactly on bad terms…just not great. And it was probably a whole lot worse now that it was three years later. Last I heard he was dating Selena…again. I truly didn't know what to think about that situation. The fact that she went back to him for a third time just blows my mind. If he had wanted me back, he would have had to do some serious groveling and actually prove to me that he wanted me back. According to Demi, Selena made him do neither.

Oh well, it was her life and I shouldn't make judgments on it; it wouldn't be fair to either of them. Plus, I liked Selena. People always made us out to be bitter rivals, but we weren't. Just because we didn't hang out every single day or gush about each other in interviews, didn't make us enemies.

There I go, talking about the past again. I guess I didn't know where I stood with anyone anymore. Well, except for Demi, Joe, and my family. Yes, I did still talk to my family and yes they knew where I was. I just didn't see or talk to them as often as I did with my best friends.

Finally shaken from my thoughts, I watched as Demi gave Joe a quick peck and whispered something in his ear that made him laugh. I smiled sadly, I wanted that so badly. Why did it always get messed up when I was so close to being happy? I guess the statement, "Life isn't fair" is very, very true statement.

"Now you two behave, I don't want to come back to find that the house it burned down," Joe smirked.

As he was walking away, I thought came to my mind, "Hey Joe?"

"Yeah Miles?"

"You won't say anything about me being back right? I'm not quite ready to have people storming the house." _'People like Nick…' I added silently to myself._

He smiled in understanding, "Of course I won't say anything. See you later girls."

"You're lucky Dem…to have him. Or he's lucky to have you. Either way, you're both lucky."

She sighed happily, "I know," she threw an arm around me, "You'll get this one day, I know it."

"I'm not so sure about that…" I mumbled under my breath.

"Hm?"

"Nothing…let's start unpacking!"

"Oh right! Here let me plug in my iPod, so we can have some music."

While she busied herself with that task, I started surveying the mountains of boxes. I could definitely see why Joe almost had a heart attack, they were everywhere!

"We've definitely got a long night ahead of us."

All of a sudden, Lady Gaga's _Just Dance_ blasted through the speakers. At least the loudness stopped any of the bad thoughts about the boxes. I couldn't think at all with that noise.

"So…" Demi yelled over the music, "I set it this loud for a reason!"

"Oh?" I yelled back, "And what would that reason be?"

"Well I didn't want anyone to hear you scream when I told you this next piece of news."

"I have a feeling that I should be worried. Alright, spill Demi."

"There's a chance that me and Joe decided to throw you a welcome home party tomorrow night…and we might have invited…everyone."

She looked at me sheepishly, while I just stood there in shock.

All I was able to get out was, "And by everyone you mean…?"

Demi gulped, "Everyone, everyone."

"Demi…" I said through my clenched teeth, "Why would you do that?!"

"Because you are just going to get it over with. Tell everyone that you're back, and then you can go home and hide. But people will find out eventually so why not just tell them now. Plus, it's going to be a surprise for them, so aren't the looks on everyone's faces when they see you just a little bit tempting?"

I sighed loudly, "I hate you."

"And I'll take that as a yes!" she grinned happily.

All I knew was that tomorrow night was probably going to be one of the most chaotic nights of my life.

--

**Review?**

**Follow me on twitter// imagineyourlife**

**Oh, and if you have any ideas for this story, please let me know. I'm always** **up for suggestions. That doesn't mean I'll use them, but I'll take them under consideration. :DD**


	3. Chapter 3

So I finally finished. Trust me, it didn't take me this long because of any lack of inspiration. Because I've got plenty of that; I've just been unable to get onto my mom's computer a lot lately which is where the story is.

THIS IS DEDICATED TO ASHLEAYYYY WHO HAS BEEN BUGGING ME INTO UPDATING IT. SO HERE YOU GO!

Anyway, I hope you guys like it….

**Disclaimer: THIS IS LEGAL. No last names are used. Miley was Hannah Montana it's just…it wasn't exactly a secret. xD**

**--**

Surprisingly, we actually finished unpacking everything. Sure, it might have taken us all night. And by all night I mean we finally crashed at five in the morning. Now I finally woke up way later that day, and I was completely sore. Of course Demi and I decided that to commemorate our first night living in the same house again as best friends, we should sleep on the floor. The very hardwood floor.

Beside me, Demi was still dead to the world. I quietly got up and made my way to the kitchen. It was a familiar walk, a route that came back to me as quickly as the lyrics to one of my songs.

I pulled open the fridge and found that it was fully stalked. I grabbed the milk and opened the cupboard where the cereal used to be (thankfully it was still in the same exact place). Then I grabbed a bowl, which again was in the same exact place and poured my cereal.

I walked over to the silverware drawer (yes, the silverware was in the same place) and then finally sat down to eat. I noticed the clock on the stove and was shocked to realize that it was already two PM.

'_We slept for nine hours…wow," _I thought to myself. I don't know why I was surprised. I guess I thought that the time difference would screw up my sleeping pattern; I know it did when I first went over there. I guess Los Angeles likes me enough to get used to this time zone in one night…

I heard the front door creak open and someone tiptoe inside. My body tensed up and I readied my spoon for an attack. As soon as the intruder rounded the corner I screamed.

"AHHHH!"

We both screamed at the same time.

"What the hell?" the voice yelled.

"Joe?"

"Miley?"

"What the hell were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?"

"Miley…I didn't sneak up on you. I thought you guys were still asleep so I was trying to be quiet," he glanced at my spoon, which was still poised for attack, "What were you going to do? Spoon me to death?"

I glared at him, "I thought you were someone trying to come kill me and this happened to be the closest weapon."

He started laughing, which only made me more furious. Seriously Joseph? You come in and scare the crap out of me and then you laugh because I wanted to defend myself? Some friend he is.

"Come on Miles…it is a little funny. I mean a spoon? Really?"

Okay so maybe I found it a little funny but I was determined not to let him know that.

"What is going on down here?!"

We both turned at the voice coming from the hallway. There was Demi, still half-asleep, staring at us with wide eyes.

"Well?"

"Um…well I came in to check on you guys but I thought the two of you were still asleep, but Miley wasn't and she got spooked, so she screamed and I screamed and then she tried to attack me with a spoon," Joe explained in one breath.

"I did not try and attack you with a spoon! I was using it to defend myself!"

Meanwhile, Demi just stood there trying to process what we were saying in her still half-asleep brain.

"You so would have attacked me if you hadn't known it was me. You could have at least grabbed a knife or something. But a spoon?"

"The spoon was just right there and I grabbed it! If I would have had a knife in my hand I would've used the knife, but I didn't. I had a spoon, so I used the spoon."

"Okay, but who did you think it was anyway? Not many people have a key to this place."

I threw my hands up in the air, "I don't know! A stalker maybe or crazy paparazzi. How am I supposed to know? I just heard the lock turn, and then I heard footsteps, and the next thing I knew, I was screaming."

"A stalker or crazy paps?"

"Ugh…Joe. Can you just let me eat my breakfast in peace?"

"Fine, fine. Go eat your cereal with your oh-so-precious, life-saving spoon."

I sat down at the counter table again and sat down. I was about to take my first bite, when Demi finally spoke up again. I guess she was fully awake now.

"Wait, you tried to protect yourself with a spoon?"

"Ugh," I groaned and chomped on my cereal. They would never let me live this down. Still, I could clearly see Joe walk over and whisper, _'Good morning beautiful,'_ in Demi's ear and then give her a not-so-appropriate kiss on the mouth.

As sickening as it was, it was still really cute and adorable. Though at the same time it made me want to gag. But it also made me want to poke fun at how sickeningly adorable it was. Oh, the many choices I have.

When they still hadn't stopped (seriously, it had only been one night apart), I intervened, "Ahem, you do know that you still have a friend in the room, right?"

They pulled apart and Demi face was red while Joe was just smirking, "And you do know that you tried to protect yourself with a spoon, right?"

"You can't use that as a comeback every time. It will get old real fast."

"I know…but it's fun using it now."

I just sighed and turned back to my cereal, but Joe kept talking, "You missed it didn't you?"

"Missed what?"

"The fake-fighting about spoons, catching me and Demi doing…stuff, the normalcy?"

"Shut up Joe."

But all three of us could clearly see the smile that was playing around my lips.

--

An hour later and things had finally calmed down. I had showered and gotten dressed, while Demi did the same. Joe was…sitting on our couch watching ESPN. How Joe of him.

I flopped down on the chair next to him, just as Demi sat next to him on the couch.

"So, are you two going to tell me more about this party that you're throwing for me tonight?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I was apprehensive about what they were going to tell me. This was Demi and Joe we were talking about, they weren't exactly subtle with their plans.

"You ended up telling her?" Joe asked his fiancée.

"Yeah…with the music turned up loud. I didn't tell her much else though; her face was completely blank for a good half hour. I swear she was like a robot until she finally shook herself out of it," she laughed.

"Hello?" I said in disbelief, "I'm right here. I can hear every word you're saying. I'm not deaf."

They looked over at me, "Sorry Miles," Demi apologized.

"So…the party? Want to tell me more about it?"

"Well we told everyone that it was mandatory, so everyone's going to show up. It's going to be at Joe's place because we figured that if you wanted to escape, you wouldn't be able to if it was here."

Joe wrapped his arm around Demi, "Yeah, and it's not going to be too bad. You just have to say hi to some people, maybe give them a quick explanation about where you were, and then you can leave. It's as simple as that."

"What if I can't do it?" I sighed, "What if I freak out or something? I haven't seen or talked to any of these people for three years, so what am I supposed to say when I just show up out of thin air?"

"Um…TA DAAA?"

I giggled, "I'm serious Demi. Tons of questions are going to be asked and I don't know if I'm ready to handle all of that."

"Come on. If you want you can just make a big entrance and then leave if you want. But you have to come. Or else you are going to make your best friend in the whole entire world extremely frustrated. Do you know why I will be frustrated?"

"Why will you be frustrated?"

"Because then I will have to come with an entire new reason for why I'm throwing this party and I'm too tired to do that at the moment."

"You know, you could use your engagement as an excuse. I'm almost positive that people would fall for that."

"Psh…I'm already having an engagement party. When? I have no idea, but I can't have two engagement parties. And you already agreed last night, so you can't back out."

I thought about it for a minute. So, I technically did promise her that I would go and she definitely isn't the type of person to let that go. "I can leave when I get too overwhelmed?"

"Of course you can! I mean, you might look like a bad host if you leave early, but you know, that's on your conscience not mine."

I groaned and stood up, "I better go find something nice to wear then."

Demi quickly untangled herself from Joe and followed me to my room, "And I get to help you!"

After an hour and a half of searching through countless outfits for both Demi and I. We were finally done. Our makeup was flawless (I personally didn't care, but Demi wanted me to look perfect for my return to the star-studded world of Hollywood), and we were all ready to go.

I knew that we both looked good, but I wasn't going to say anything about it. I wasn't that full of myself. But I did look pretty hot.

We walked back out into the living room where Joe was still stationed on the couch.

"Come on Joe, we better head back over to your place just in case people show up early," Demi said to her fiancée.

He looked up from the screen and I watched as his mouth dropped open, "You look…wow."

She raised her eyebrows, "Well thanks hun. Now let's go."

I just laughed at Joe who was like in some sort of trance. It was so sweet how they still acted like star struck teenagers around each other. Maybe Peter Pan was right…maybe it was better to never grow up. Things didn't affect you as badly when you were younger.

But then again, things did affect me when I was young. I mean look at my history: the break-up, the rebelling, the running away. I was just one bad record. So maybe it was me, not everyone else. Well that thought didn't exactly make me feel better. Great job Miley, way to make yourself feel even worse.

So I was the screwed up one and everyone else was normal. That's just wonderful.

"Miley?" Demi asked, standing in front of me with a worried look on her face. Uh oh…how long had I zoned out? Now I had to deal with Demi being all motherly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" I exclaimed, enthusing as much fake happiness as I could into those words, "Ready to go?"

She obviously didn't believe me, but she let the subject drop, "Yeah, let's go."

The drive to Joe's was short, he obviously didn't want to be too far away from Demi, which was strange because I knew for a fact that they rarely ever spent a night apart. Except, now that I was home, Demi told me she was going to spend more time with me. I was interested to see how long that lasted. I was counting the days until she snuck over to Joe's or he would sneak over to our house. It would be hilarious to catch them.

Note to self: catch Demi and Joe sneaking over to each other's houses when they get bored of me.

We pulled up to his house and I was amazed by the…simplicity of it. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, Joe was never one to impress people. He just lived his life the way he wanted to.

"Nice house," I smirked.

"Well thank you. I'm glad you have taken in its awesomeness."

I just rolled my eyes.

"Come on you two, people have been setting up for hours. We have to go check it out!" Demi said excitedly. Unfortunately, her excitement of infectious and she soon had me a teensy bit excited for the night. Oh great…

We walked in and I immediately smiled at the sight. There were balloons everywhere and snacks and the entire house was set up for a party.

"I usually don't like hiring people to do this stuff because I can do it perfectly fine by myself, but I just didn't have the time today," Demi explained, she never liked hiring help.

"I know Dem," I smiled softly, "The place looks great though!"

And it did. There were balloons everywhere and streamers. There were tables lined with food and it looked like a scene from a movie. It was elegant but fun at the same time. The perfect party.

"It's amazing guys…thank you."

"Of course! Only the best for you my dear," Demi said enthusiastically.

One of the workers walked up to us and started talking to Demi, "I was wondering where you wanted the karaoke machine. We were going to set it up in the left corner but the food table got in the way."

She thought about it for a moment before finally deciding, "Just put it in the opposite corner then, I don't think there is anything to block it there. Actually let me go check it out, come on Joe."

As they walked away the worker seemed to finally notice me. I watched as her mouth dropped open in shock, so she obviously knew who I was. She seemed to be in her early twenties, maybe younger. This was my first encounter with a fan since returning, so I was a little nervous.

"You-you-you're Miley…" she stuttered.

"Yes I am," I smiled, trying to spew as much confidence as I could into my words, "What's your name?"

"Um…Kara," her grin was huge and a thousand watts. I thought it was going to burst off of her face, "I'm a huge fan!"

"Awww thanks! It means a lot to hear you say that."

"Where have you been?"

"Oh you know, taking a break from it all. The fame and all the drama. I never meant to stay away for so long though."

"Oh…" she said, a wave of understanding washing over her face, "Good for you for choosing to do that. Leaving must have been hard to do."

"Yeah it was, but it was what I needed."

She nodded but then she heard someone call her name and tell her to get back to work.

"It looks like I have to go," Kara sighed, "I don't normally ask this because I find it annoying, but could I get your autograph? And maybe a picture too?"

"Of course!" I exclaimed.

I waited as she excitedly took out her cell phone, grabbed a pen that was in her pocket, and grabbed a napkin from the table. We took a couple pictures, I signed the autograph, and before I knew it, I was back to standing alone in the middle of the foyer.

"Well you got through your first fan encounter Miley," I said quietly to myself. Sighing, I found my way through the house in search of Demi and Joe.

I finally found them, still trying to move the karaoke machine to the right spot.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Miles," Demi answered without looking up. She took a second glance at me, "Wait Miley! What are you doing down here?"

"Um…I was talking to one of the workers. Why?"

She quickly got up and led me away from everyone and towards the stairs.

"You can't be down here! It's supposed to be a surprise!" Demi gently pushed me, "Come down when I tell you to."

So here I was an hour later. I swear they all forgot about me considering that no one has even come up to check that I'm still alive. I could hear the hustle and bustle of everyone downstairs, guests most likely. They had started arriving about forty-five minutes ago, so I guess it was good that Demi forced me upstairs when she did. Or else my appearance would have "ruined the surprise".

All of a sudden I heard the music get turned down to where it was almost inaudible and Demi's voice rang clear throughout the house.

"I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. You're all probably wondering why exactly I invited you guys and forced you to come," a ripple of laughter went through the crowd, "Anyway, you may have guessed that it had something to do with my engagement to Joe."

She paused, probably for dramatic effect, and I heard the murmurs of agreement come from the guests.

"Well you guys are wrong. Sure, technically she's here because of the wedding, but this is actually a welcome home party for my best friend in the whole entire world…Miley!"

I figured that was my cue, so I took a deep breath and walked out to meet the wolves. Their expressions were priceless. Every single one of them had their mouths wide open, forming a perfect 'O'. Oh and it was silent. Dead silent. Demi, Joe, and I couldn't help but crack up at the scene. As I was laughing, I scanned the crowd looking at everyone who had come. There was Emily and Mitchell, Cody, Kevin and Danielle, Tiffany, Sterling, Zac and Vanessa, Ashley, Corbin, and so many more people on top of that. And of course Selena and…him were there.

We locked eyes and I could feel everything coming back. Every feeling, every memory, every laugh shared with him, and every tear shed over him. Blue locked onto brown. Ocean onto Earth.

Nick.

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**Muahaha. You didn't actually think I'd give you the Niley encounter quite yet did you? Nope. I'll make you guys wait a little longer. Build your anticipation up. :)**

**HEY, want to click that little button and review? I think you do. It would mean so much to me. I'd love you forever…**


	4. Chapter 4

Another update! Yay! I hope you guys like it. And I know all of you just LOVED the last cliff-hanger. I'm so mean, I know. Enjoy!

Oh, this IS in Nick's point of view. Just in case you guys can't figure that out.

**ONE MORE THING! READDDDD THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM. IT IS VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. I PROMISE. AT LEAST THE FIRST PART OF IT IS. SO PLEASE READ IT.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. It is completely legal because no last names are used.**

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"Why are we going to this party again?"

"Demi and Joe invited us, that's why we're going."

Selena sighed, "Don't you think it's a little weird though? They didn't even tell us what the party was for. They just told us to be there."

I shrugged. Truthfully I had no idea what the party was for either, but being a good brother, I didn't argue when Joe told me to come. It gave me something to do that didn't involve fancy clubs and paparazzi.

She intertwined her hand with mine. It was a gesture that she had been doing with me for the last two years, ever since we had started dating again. I didn't like the feeling, it was uncomfortable since her hands we so petite and fragile and mine were larger, but I never told her that. I guess I never had the guts to tell her.

As we walked up to the front door of the house, I heard her take a deep breath (she still wasn't entirely comfortable around Demi), "Let's go Nicky."

Walking in, we realized that the party was already in full swing. Apparently we were late.

"There you guys are! Why are you so late? Everyone else got here way earlier!" Demi exclaimed clamping on to my forearm and dragging me towards the middle of the crowd.

"Sorry we just got a late start."

I had lost Selena while moving through the throngs of people, but all of a sudden there she was, holding on to my hand once again.

"Yeah, sorry Demi. We really tried to get here on time."

She looked her over and I could swear that she was trying her hardest not to roll her eyes, "Whatever…it's fine. You're here now and that's what matters."

"So what's your announcement Dem?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh right…stay here. We're about to tell everyone."

With that she headed for the stairs. Everyone got quiet as she readied to talk.

"I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. You're all probably wondering why exactly I invited you guys and forced you to come. Anyway, you may have guessed that it had something to do with my engagement to Joe."

I, along with everyone else nodded, because obviously that is exactly what we all thought this party was for. Demi waited for a moment before talking again, always the dramatic one she was.

"Well you guys are wrong. Sure, technically she's here because of the wedding, but this is actually a welcome home party for my best friend in the whole entire world…Miley!"

I didn't believe what she was saying at first. She couldn't be back. But then I saw her coming from upstairs. Miley.

I felt my jaw drop. Not only was she back, but she was looking great. Healthy curves, a wide smile, and bright blue eyes. Then she started smiling and it was as if no time had passed. In fact it was like we had gone back in time; back to the tour when all of us were happy. When Miley was singing _Best of Both Worlds _and JB stood for the Jonas Brothers.

The entire room was silent and of course the infamous group of three had the decency to start cracking up. Then the blue-eyed brunette let her eyes scan across the room of people. Then she saw me. Our eyes locked and all the breath was taken from my body.

That's when everyone came alive again.

Her gaze shifted to all the people who were running up, just to touch her to make sure she was really there. Everyone began to talk again. People were laughing and shouting and every single person had the biggest smile on their faces.

I was finally brought out of my, well I guess you call it a trance, by Selena tugging on my arm.

"What is she doing back?!" she exclaimed.

Miley and Selena's relationship had never been sunshine and butterflies. They had their moments, but for the most part they were just two very different girls with two very different personalities. While Selena was all about sticking to the rules set for her and staying within her boundaries, Miley was rebellious and adventurous.

Most of the time I couldn't decide which one I liked better. Maybe that was why I tended to bounce between the two of them. Selena was the good, could-do-no-wrong princess. Then there was Miley, the loose cannon, the always-speaks-her-mind, drop-dead gorgeous queen.

Shit. I don't think I should be comparing the two. And the fact that I made Miley out to be a little better probably doesn't make me seem like a good guy.

Meanwhile, Selena was still ranting. You could say that she wasn't exactly happy that the former queen was back in the states. I guess she had been liking the drama-free (boring in my opinion) life she had been leading the past couple years.

"I mean, why is she even back? Doesn't she know that she can't just waltz back into everyone's lives? Things have changed since she's been gone; everything's not just going to go back to the way it was just because she decided she wanted to come back."

I didn't say anything. I figured I'd just let her rant and eventually she'd tire herself out.

"Hey guys!" Demi exclaimed coming up to us with Joe trailing behind her.

"Hey Demi…Joe," I nodded to the both of them, "That was…quite a surprise."

"Oh I know right!" She sighed and looked over to where Miley was smiling and laughing with all her old friends, "You have no idea how much it took to get her back here."

"Why is she back?" Selena asked, kind of snobbish if you ask me, but being her boyfriend I couldn't exactly tell her that.

Of course Demi picked up on her tone, looked her straight in the eye, and said, "To be my maid of honor, who else do you think it would be?"

I felt Selena stiffen beside me, Demi's relationship with Miley was always a sore spot for her. I always knew that she blamed Miley a little bit for her fallout with her ex-best friend. Which was completely ridiculous, but again I couldn't tell her that. I guess in retrospect, she must have hoped, even just a little bit, that Demi would ask her to be her maid of honor. They hadn't got a lot closer in the past years, but since the queen had left Hollywood, she probably figured things would go back to the way things were before they got introduced into the world of stardom.

But obviously, Demi's last statement crushed that little dream she had.

"Oh," Selena answered.

"Anyway…" Joe said awkwardly, "why don't we just add to this batch of fun by inviting the woman of the hour over here?"

Before I knew it, he was waving Miley over and she was actually able to pull herself away from everyone to walk over. Oh no. What did Joe think he was doing? Did he want to create one of the most awkward situations known to man?

I kicked his foot and glared at him. I may not have kicked him hard, but he winced, which was a good enough punishment for me. Now I focused my attention on the beautiful goddess standing in front of me. Her face was flushed from the excitement that the last couple minutes had brought her.

"Miley Ray, you remember Nick and Selena right?" Joe said jokingly.

She rolled her eyes, "Shut up Joe. Yes, I remember them."

Demi just laughed and playfully smacked her fiancée, "Joe, we talked about this, don't scare Miles off. We don't need her disappearing on us again."

"Yes dear. No more jabs at her…at least in your presence."

"Anyway," the brunette continued loudly, "Selena, it's nice to see you again." She leaned in for a quick hug that the other girl returned half-heartedly. I sighed at my girlfriend's lack of enthusiasm. It would make things so much easier if they just got along.

"Nick," she said, smiling even wider if that was possible. When she leaned in for my hug, I eagerly returned it. I wrapped my arms around her waist, as she wrapped hers around my neck. She smelled differently, I guess she finally changed her shampoo after all this time, but at the same time it was still familiar. It was Miley.

Our hug lasted longer than it should have, a couple seconds too long. Not only could I feel Selena's eyes on me, but Demi and Joe's as well. Miley must have noticed it too because she was the first to pull away and clear her throat. I noticed that the couple in front of me had their eyebrows raised, but then they just smiled and shook their heads. I could have sworn that I saw Demi mutter, "Typical Niley," to Joe, but I couldn't be sure.

"Well, here we are. The gang is back together again! Except for Kev and Dani…where did those two go?" Miley exclaimed.

"We're right here, guys," Kevin responded, just coming up to us and a little breathless, "How many people did you invite to this thing? Do you have any idea how long it took to get through everyone to get to you guys?"

"Hey, this is completely Demi and Joe's thing. I didn't even know about it until Demi sprung it on me last night."

"Miley," Kevin said, smiling softly while he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Danielle followed in suit and gave her an excited squeeze. I forgot that the two of them were pretty close before Miley left to wherever she went.

"So, the question on everyone's mind, mine included, is how the hell did Jemi track you down Miles? You've been gone for the last three years and now suddenly you're standing in Joe's living room," my oldest brother continued.

She laughed nervously, "Oh…well…um…they kind of…knew where I was beforehand."

"What?!" I was surprised by the words that came out of my mouth. I should have waited for someone else to ask because now I had Selena gripping onto my arm for dear life.

"Yeah, I told Dem before I left. Then, she ended up telling Joe. I'm still shocked that neither of them spilled the secret."

Kevin seemed a little upset by the news. Hell, I was upset. How could she tell them and not us? More specifically, how could Joe, our own brother, our flesh and blood, not tell us? Traitor.

Miley obviously sensed the tension because she began to correct her statement.

"It's not that I don't trust you guys, because I do, it's just that I needed to get away from everything. And I couldn't do that; I couldn't leave everything behind, if a lot of people knew where I was. I told Demi because she's Demi, and not telling her wasn't an option. Then, she accidently told Joe. I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad."

"No, no, I know Miles," Kevin said, "We were just worried about you is all."

She smiled, "I know you were. But I can tell you in complete confidence that you had no reason to be. It was good for me to be away. I learned a lot about myself."

"I'm so glad little sister. I-," but he was interrupted by Mitchel, "Hey Kev, Guitar Hero! You in?"

I saw him look at Miley for permission and she just laughed and told him to go. Then, Demi and Joe decided that they were going to go watch 'the pure awesome that is Kevin's guitar skills'. We nodded at the two of them, and they were off. And then there were three.

Miley turned back to look at us and I saw the realization dawn on her. She was alone. With me and Selena.

"So…" she said, initiating conversation, "congratulations on getting back together! I would have said that a couple years ago but I was, you know, gone."

"How did you-?"

"Demi and Joe. They filled me in on all the gossip," she chuckled, "Really though, it's great that you guys were able to work things out."

"Yeah, it is pretty great," Selena said, saying something directly to Miley for the first time, "Two years is a pretty long time to be together."

"It is."

Then I saw it. The smile, the Miley's-got-something-bitchy-to-say-and-she-can't-help-but-say-it smile. That smile is not your friend. She had it on during the _7 Things_ music video, and I'm guessing she had it on during the _Seventeen_ interview.

"You know, I was in a two-year relationship once," Miley paused, "I guess you could say that it didn't really work out."

Then she just turned and left, leaving two very shocked people behind her. Actually, I was shocked and I felt a little guilty, but Selena was downright pissed. I watched her storm off. And now…I was alone. How the hell did that happen? Here I was, expecting to have a perfectly nice night with my family and friends and then Miley shows up. Now, my girlfriend isn't talking to anyone, I found out my brother was keeping a HUGE secret from me, and of course my ex (who I don't think I ever really got over) is saying things that make my head spin. I need a drink.

As a walked over to the bar, thankfully I was old enough to have it be legal, Joe stopped me, "Whoa little brother. No alcohol for you tonight. We have to keep you sober enough to drive your lady home."

"You throw me into this situation, and then don't even allow me to drink so I can forget all about it? Uh, no. If you haven't realized, one minute with her just messes everything up. So, if you'll excuse me, I've got a beer waiting for me at the bar."

I tried to push pass him, but he stood his ground, "Just go talk to her Nick. She may not show it, but she really did miss you. A lot."

I sighed. Did I want to go over there? Yeah. But I knew it'd probably just end with us screaming at one another and I didn't want that to be the end this night on that note.

"I don't think-"

"Go. Trust me, she wants to talk to you."

He gave me a little push in the direction Miley, and I forced my feet to take the extra steps until I was standing right next to her. When she turned to see who had come up to her, she froze when she saw me. Alright, not the best reaction, but I'll go with it.

"What the hell was that Miley?"

"What are you talking about?" she replied innocently. She wanted to play that game? Well that was just fine. She wouldn't get away with it for long.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! What was with that comment?"

"Oh come on Nick, I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted Selena to stop looking at me like I was going to steal you away the second I had the chance."

"She's already a little pissed that you're back. I would suggest that you don't rock the boat anymore."

Her face turned from the innocent mask to the one she used when she was trying to protect herself. The mask that everyone else thought was normal, but in reality was just there to hold in the tears.

"I think you know that I don't give a shit what Selena thinks."

But we both knew that she did care exactly what Selena thought of her. Just like she cared what everyone said about her. But she never let anyone see that. Everyone thought she had this invincible armor surrounding her, but that wasn't true. She felt every hurtful word and cried over every hurtful comment, but on the inside, where no one would notice. Then she would break down little by little and then she would go to someone (it used to be me) and cry and cry and cry.

Then the cycle would start all over again the next day.

Over time, it must have gotten easier for her to live with it until finally all the hurtful things became normal for her. Being called a bitch was a pre-breakfast treat. Whore? That was saved for brunch. Slut? Well that was for every other second of the day.

She saw and felt everything more than the rest of us, although Demi came pretty close. Me, Kevin, and Joe didn't because they (the fans) never blamed us for anything. We were the saints that could do no wrong. And we didn't have jealous girls bashing on us. Selena…well she was just sheltered from it. Our bosses saw what happened to Miley, she ended up disappearing to some faraway place, so they were determined to not let that happen to another one of their stars. She never saw any of the comments and she never heard anything that cast her in a negative light. Of course she did see some things (it was kind of hard to miss them) but just not in the enormity that Miley saw them in.

But I didn't point out the fact that she was lying to my face. She knew she was, but she had to pretend that she wasn't in order to keep it together. And the glare that she was directing at me made it a little hard to disagree with her.

We were quiet for a minute, I was too afraid to say anything but luckily for me, she started talking again first.

"I am happy for you guys, just so you know. At least the two of you were able to work things out."

"Thanks Miles," I said quietly. I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't exactly hold her and say that everything would work out between _us_. Because I don't know if it will, it's not like I can predict the future. That would be pretty cool though. Then I wouldn't have to go through life blind. Life would be blind to me.

"Well, I should go see everyone else. They might get jealous that I'm spending all my time with you," she smiled the tiniest smile, but I could still see it as if it was put up on a billboard and shown to the world.

Before she could walk away I pulled into another hug. It was definitely not just friendly, anyone could see that, but I didn't care for once. Let them think what they wanted. I had Miley, even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

"I missed you Miley Ray."

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**Okay…here is the important author's note. I DO NOT HATE SELENA. I promise you that. I know I portrayed her as bitchy in this chapter, but that's the way her character has to be. At least in the beginning of the story. I don't want to see any flames about that subject in any reviews. Because I do like her a lot. She's an extremely talented actress and she seems very sweet. So you guys got it? Hopefully. Once more: I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT HATE SELENA.**

**So did you like it? Hate it? Love it? What was your favorite part? Who's your favorite character? Haha…okay I'm done now.**

**Another thing, some…stuff has happened in my real life that kind of sucks, so I haven't figured out if that is going to make me want to write more to let out my extreme frustration or make me want to write less. We'll just have to see. But I promise I will finish this story. PINKY SWEAR. By the way, reviews help. Hint, hint. ;)**

**Follow me on twitter// imagineyourlife**


	5. Chapter 5

I hope you guys like it. Sorry for the long wait, this was supposed to be up on Sunday but I was too lazy. Go ahead and yell at me if you want. xD

**Disclaimer: Although I do wish I owned all of these people so I could force them together *cough*Niley*cough*. But anyway, I only own my characters.**

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"_Nick!" I yelled laughing. I watched as he kept running._

"_Come on Miley, you have to catch up to me!"_

"_I can't! You're running to fast!" I was still laughing but it was slowly faltering._

"_Miley…you were gone for too long. You'll never be able to catch up to all of us."_

_And all of a sudden, Nick wasn't the only one standing there. Selena was right next to him and Demi next to her. Joe and Kevin and Danielle were there, and just…everyone was standing there. They all seemed sad; each one of them had frowns on their faces. Then a little girl came out from the crowd, someone I that seemed so strangely familiar but I couldn't place my finger on who she was. _

"_You left all of us. How could do that? How could you just leave without looking back?"_

"_I didn't…I didn't mean to be gone….for that long."_

"_But you were gone for that long Miley. You were."_

"_Who are you?" I asked desperately, I even glanced towards Nick to see if he showed any signs of recognition, but his face remained as that sad look._

"_You really don't know who I am?"_

"_No…should I?"_

"_Yes. Have you really been gone so long that you have forgotten?"_

_She looked up at me with such wide, sad eyes that I found myself scrambling for an answer just to make her happy. But I found none._

"_I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Where are you supposed to be right now?"_

"_I'm lost."_

"_You're lost?" I asked kneeling down to her level._

_The little girl nodded._

"_Well honey, where do you live?"_

_She shrugged, "I don't know. Where do you think I live?"_

"_I…um…don't know sweetie." This girl, what was so familiar about her? Who was she? I turned to Nick, hoping that he would shed some light on the subject, "Nick, who is she?"_

_But he just stared at me like he didn't even recognize me. Me of all people, and all he did was shrug, "You should know."_

_Then the strange girl spoke up again, "Miley, you have to choose. London or Hollywood."_

_I was startled by her statement. Why was she asking me that?_

"_But I don't want to choose. What if I want to go back to London?"_

"_You have to choose Miley," she repeated, but this time everyone else joined in. A chorus of voices were telling me to make a choice. Nick's voice was one of the loudest. He looked me straight in the eye and told me to choose. _

_But I didn't know which one to pick. London was my escape, but Hollywood was my home._

"_I don't want to pick!" I yelled loudly to be heard over everyone. It went deadly silent and I looked at the little girl once more. Then I saw it. I realized exactly who she was. The little girl was…me._

_A voice as clear as day broke through the silence. It was my voice, the one I had now, but it came from the little girl's (or my) mouth._

"_You have to choose Miley. You just have to."_

I woke up in a cold sweat and my breathing uneven. It took me a minute to finally realize that I was no longer in the dream, but back in the real world. Knowing that I would never be able to get back to sleep (or sleep again for the next couple of nights for the matter), I reluctantly got up.

Getting ready in the morning was usually a slow process for me, so in most cases I just didn't bother getting dressed until later on in the day or when I needed to be ready. But after last night, I wasn't sure who was going to show up in our living room. So just to be safe, I began the time-consuming process.

A half hour later I made my way out of my room, and it wasn't until then that I realized the house was strangely quiet. You would think that I would have noticed it right when I woke up, but it wasn't until now that I realized the familiar sounds of the television were absent, and the banter between Demi and Joe was as well.

"Hello?" I called through the house, but all I got in return was silence, "Great. They left."

Sighing I made my way slowly into the kitchen. I still didn't fully trust this place, being alone in this "new" house. Although it wasn't really new, it was just new from three years ago.

Unfortunately with all of this silence, it gave me more time to think about that dream I had. I didn't understand it. I thought I had chosen. I had chosen Hollywood, I had chosen to come home, but now some little girl (or a younger version of me) comes into my mind and tells me that I still have to choose. I didn't need that, the second-guessing myself, but now I was.

Did it mean that I hadn't fully chosen? Was something going to happen in the next couple months to make me doubt my decision to come back? I pushed back the little voice in my head that kept telling me that I already did have doubts about coming back. I didn't need to add that extra confusion to the mix.

And what was it with that little girl? I saw it, after analyzing her; I saw that she was me. I don't know why it took me so long to see myself. It wasn't like I was unfamiliar with pictures from my childhood. My parent's house was practically filled with them. And I had plenty of photo albums.

I think that was the part that got to me. The fact that I didn't recognize my own self. It was me for crying out loud! It was me and I couldn't see that until I let myself see it.

Why did all of this have to be so damn confusing?

"I need coffee."

But as soon as I got to the coffee machine, I stopped in my tracks. There was no more coffee. This was impossible because I had checked the night before and there was enough to last through the week. Taped to the machine was a note:

_Joe and I went for a run. We ran out of coffee. Have fun going to Starbucks! xoxo Demi_

What. A. Bitch. She stashed all the coffee to get me out of the house. She knew that there was no way I would leave otherwise. Demi was good though, I had to admit. That isn't something I would have been able to come up with.

I groaned. Should I risk the paparazzi or should I risk going without coffee?

Almost immediately I came to decision. There was absolutely no way that I would be able to get through the day without at least a dose of caffeine. So, I would have to face the outside world for the first time.

That is just fabulous.

I grabbed my keys and walked towards the door that led out to the garage. I smiled when I realized that my car was still in its usual spot. When Demi and I first moved in, we both got to pick what side of the garage we wanted to be on. For some reason (one that I cannot for the life of me remember) I chose the left side. So from then on, it was known as the Miley spot while the right side was the Demi spot. Visitors got to park outside.

As I pulled out, I prayed that the paparazzi were not going to be there. But they were. Of course they were because they are our personal stalkers. They were staked out in front of our house like vultures, I found it disgusting but I guess I wasn't the one getting paid a lot of money just for a picture of Brad Pitt's beard.

Okay so my praying didn't work the first time, but I continued to pray that at least they wouldn't see or notice me. I mean, they couldn't be expecting my departure from the house if they never even knew I was inside. They did though notice me though and their reactions were about the same as everyone's the night before. They stood shell-shocked for a moment, giving me the perfect opportunity to get a head start, and then things went crazy. All of them were scrambling for a picture of me, climbing over each other, tripping each other; some were even trying to throw themselves at the car.

What freaks.

Finally, luck was on my side and I was able to get away. Or to at least get a pretty good lead on them. It would be a challenge to figure out where I was going next. Well, kind of a challenge. After all, all I was after was coffee.

The drive to Starbucks was short and sweet (do you really think Demi and I would choose to live anywhere that wasn't in walking distance to a Starbucks?) and I think I made it there in record time. Racing out of the car, I smiled when I saw there was no line. That means I would get my coffee quicker.

"Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?" the young woman behind the cash register asked me.

"Yeah. Just a Venti Vanilla Iced Latte please and that's all," I smiled. Although the barista was too busy chewing her gum to actually pay attention to who I was. Thankfully. I don't think that I could handle another shocked face at the moment. All I wanted was to get my coffee peacefully and head back home and give Demi the evil eye for making me go out in the first place.

After paying, I said a quick thank you and walked over to the opposite counter. I waited patiently until my drink was finally called.

"Venti Vanilla Iced Latte!" the lady called. Now I knew the woman behind the cash register was barely listening. Since I knew I told her my name, but apparently she forgot to write it on the cup.

I went to grab it, but another hand got in the way.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the other person apologized. I looked up and saw the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes I had ever seen. They were soft, but piercing at the same time. Then I looked at him. At a first glance I could tell that he was hot. Blond hair, blue eyes, toned body; he was the typical Southern Californian. He seemed adventurous. I would bet money that he knew how to surf.

"No it's okay," I said grinning, "I'm pretty sure it's mine though, considering that I was the only one in line when I got here."

"Oh I know the drink is yours."

"What?" If he knew that it was mine, why did he try and take it?

"I just needed a reason to talk to you," he smiled easily.

I was a little taken aback by his words. Not that I didn't like what he was saying (truthfully, I could feel the butterflies flying around in my stomach), I just wasn't used to guys being so forward around me. They were usually intimidated. I liked the change.

"I'm Nate by the way." He stuck his hand out for me to shake, and I took it without hesitation.

"I'm Miley."

"Well Miley, what brings you here to this part of the woods? I've never seen you around before."

"Are you kidding me? This is like my place…I just haven't been here in a while. I've been out of the country for the last couple years."

Then he cocked his head and looked at me, like really looked at me. It was a little uncomfortable to say the least.

"You're her aren't you?" he asked.

I was confused, "Her?"

"Yeah, 'her'. The singer/actress that my little sister was and still is absolutely obsessed with?"

At first I was a little put-out by his comment, but then I saw him smiling. It was a smile that said he would be perfectly okay with it if I was 'her'.

"There is a very good possibility that is exactly who I am," I giggled.

"Now that I've got my breakfast and talked to a beautiful girl, I have to head to class. I've already skipped one too many," he said in jokingly, but I could tell (let's call it a girl's instinct) that he really didn't want to go.

"Maybe we could do this again sometime. But next time, I will pretend to take your drink."

"I'd like that. Here's my number," he grabbed a napkin from a nearby table. He then wrote down his number and handed it to me. I did the same thing (obviously I didn't give him my personal number; I never knew who I could trust with that. But he did get my number that I contacted other people with).

"So Nate, you'll call me later?"

"Of course I'm going to," he leaned in to give me a quick peck on the cheek (wow, he was a forward guy) "You are very beautiful by the way."

I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks; nobody had made me feel this…special in a long time.

"Goodbye Nate," I laughed, and then I just walked out of Starbucks without even looking back. Okay so maybe I looked in the reflection in the window and saw him staring after me with a giant smile on his face, but it isn't like I physically turned my head to look back at him.

So my trip to get coffee actually put me in a good mood, one that wasn't even broken by the tons of paparazzi that were still outside of my house. This time they were actually expecting me so it made getting back in a whole lot harder. I did eventually get through though and when I walked in I was immediately met by Demi.

"So I see you went out!"

"Yes I did thank you very much. And I almost got killed because of it."

Then Demi did the whole analyzing me thing again, I swear, sometimes it was as if she could see right into my soul. It was a little creepy to say the least.

"You met a guy," she stated blankly.

"How did you know that?" Seriously, she had to have some kind of special power or something. No one was that good.

"Because silly, you've got your I-just-met-a-really-hot-guy dreamy look on your face. So what's his name?"

I sighed, I might as well tell her because she will probably use her superpowers and find out some other way, "His name is Nate."

Demi's smile grew even more if that was possible, "Nate? He sounds cute."

I just laughed, "He is definitely cute."

Then all of her questions started, "How old is he? Is he in school? How did you meet-"

Thankfully I got saved by the bell (or the by the sound of my phone ringing), I aimed a sweet smile at Demi, "Sorry Dem, I have to take this. It would be rude to ignore the call."

She just smirked at me, "Whatever Miley, you are giving me details later."

I giggled, I was sure that she would get something out of me later, it was her specialty. I dug around in my purse until I found the right phone (believe it or not it was my work related phone ringing, not my personal). Flipping it open I realized that I didn't recognize the number but I answered it anyway, "This is Miley."

"Okay, so do you think that I waited a sufficient amount of time before calling you? Or should I hang up and call back a little bit later?"

I felt the smile on my face grow a thousand times bigger, "You know Nate, I think you waited the perfect amount of time to call me. What happened to going to class?"

"Oh, I'm here alright. It's my crazy professor that isn't."

"Oh…where do you go to school?" I asked while settling myself onto my bed.

"UCLA, I'm majoring in pre-law."

"Wow, pre-law? That's amazing! Aren't lawyers supposed to be ruthless people that everyone hates?" I joked.

I heard him chuckle on the other end, "Eh, maybe I'll be one of the nice ones. But then again, everyone knows that the nice guys never win in the end."

His statement hit me hard because I had lived through that. As much as I would like to say otherwise, he was right. Unfortunately, the nice guys never won in this crazy thing we call life. Sometimes being ruthless is exactly what you have to be in order to get out alive.

"Maybe you're right…" I answered, trailing off.

"Hey, I didn't mean to bring you down, it's just something that I learned in the course of life, you know?"

"I know."

I could hear Nate moving in the background, then he spoke again, "I'm sorry Miley, but my insane professor just showed up. Can I call you later?"

"Of course," I paused and took a deep breath, "How's this, do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night?"

"I'd love to! There's a new restaurant that just opened up on 52nd Street. I think it's called Luciana's. It's Italian. Do you want to go there?"

"That sounds…amazing. I'll meet you there at seven."

"Alright. I'll call you later Miley, pray for me to get through this class." I could practically hear his giant smile.

I laughed, "I'll definitely be praying for you. Bye Nate."

"Bye."

I hung up, but held my phone in my hand for a moment longer. I hadn't felt this way about a guy in a long time and it scared me. I had trust issues and guy issues and tendencies to let all my anger out in song lyrics that eventually became things that fans from all over the world analyzed until you couldn't analyze them anymore. I didn't know if I could do this. I didn't come back to fall in love, I didn't come back to start a relationship. I came back for one reason and one reason only, for the wedding between my two best friends.

And how pathetic could I be? I knew him for what, the two minutes that we talked and all of sudden I'm handing out my number like it's candy! I'm smart enough to know not to do that in any circumstance. Also, I know I'm definitely not a shy girl, but asking him out, being all flirtatious, who was that? I haven't been on a real date in years and now I'm making the dates myself. This worried me, I shouldn't be acting like that. I shouldn't be feeling such strong feelings for a guy this early on.

Then why did I feel this way? Why did I feel the butterflies in my stomach going crazy? I shouldn't feel this way. I didn't want to, but then again, maybe I did. Maybe this was the sign that I was looking for; the sign that will determine where my destiny lies. Now there was just one final question:

Did we control our own destinies or are they already written in the stars, unable to be changed?

Do I even have a choice in this?

_~xoxo~_

**DID YOU GUYS LIKE IT? I'm going to make you guys fall in love with Nate…just wait and see. It will happen. I'm hoping to put out the next chapter soon. Maybe I'll just leave you guys in suspense…hmmm. Maybe your reviews will help me along with the next chapter. HINT, HINT.**

**If you want to answer some questions, here you go: What do you guys have to say about the dream? Any thoughts about it? What do you guys think of Nate? What about the Demi/Miley friendship? Any predictions about what is going to happen?**

**This chapter is dedicated to the amazing Melissa. Because that's what she is, amazing. Not only is she my therapist, but she's such a fantastic friend. I don't know what I would do without her. Plus she writes pretty outstanding Niley stories. She's Team M on here, go check out her stories if you haven't already. :)**

**follow me on twitter// imagineyourlife**


	6. Chapter 6

I'm back! *creepy music plays* Haha. This chapter is in Nick's point of view. It's all his thoughts. Hopefully you guys like it. It would be awesome if you did and if you know…told me how much you loved it in a review. Yeah, that would be awesome.

THIS IS FOR CARTER WHO FORCED ME TO UPDATE TONIGHT. I LOVE YOU HARRY POTTER/GREY'S ANATOMY FAN/SISTER THAT I NEVER HAD EVEN THOUGH WE BOTH HAVE SISTERS.

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything in the story. Except for the characters I made up.**

* * *

"Nick."

I heard someone calling my name but that didn't mean I wanted to get up.

"Nick honey, you have to get up."

The person's hands began to shake me. Don't they see that I'm trying to sleep here? Last night wasn't exactly the best of nights; I didn't need to be woken up this early.

Swatting away their hands, I mumbled, "Go away."

She (yes I knew it was a girl, her hands were soft) just giggled, "Nicky, sweetie, it's already noon. You really need to get up."

Groaning, I began to open my eyes. Unfortunately, I just kept hoping that when I finally did completely open them, a certain blue-eyed brunette would be standing there.

'_Please be Miley; please be Miley,' I thought, 'Please be…Selena.'_

Yeah, so it wasn't Miley. It was Selena. I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed at that fact. Wait, what the hell was I thinking? Selena was my girlfriend, she was the one I loved, and she was the one I was in love with. Now I would just have to ignore that little voice in the back of my head that told me otherwise.

The bright side was that at least my girlfriend looked a little happier today than she did the night before. After I had finally calmed her down at the party, she had avoided Miley like the plague. It took her a little while, but eventually she convinced me to leave the party a tiny bit early. So I drove her home and then she somehow convinced me to stay the night. I crashed on the couch while she went up to bed. Did you really think that we would do anything? It was me and Selena. The most we ever did was make-out.

It was boring to say the least.

I was still extremely groggy, her couch wasn't that comfortable so I didn't get a good sleep last night, but I blearily looked at her. She was already dressed and looking flawless. Wait, how was she already dressed and looking flawless? It was too early.

"Why do I have to get up?"

"Because silly, you shouldn't be sleeping this late. It will mess up your sleep cycle."

Well I didn't give a damn about my sleep cycle. I would sleep all day if I could.

"Well then…I better get going. I've got some things to do today," I slowly got up and placed a light kiss on her lips.

"Oh okay," she said surprised, "I'll see you later?"

I wish, and call it the selfish side of me, but I just wish that she would have asked me to stay. She could have asked me and I could have said yes and we could have joked over breakfast or lunch, or brunch. Whatever you call it. But she just let me go.

"Yeah. Bye Sel."

It wasn't until I was on her front porch that I realized I was still in my clothes from the night before. Just wonderful. The paparazzi would have a field day if they saw me like this. Somehow I was able to make it to my car without being seen, and then I sneakily made my way out of her driveway. Surprisingly there were only a few guys with cameras. And I was even able to get away from them with minimal photographs being taken.

"Crazy people," I said quietly under my breath. I just didn't see why they couldn't leave me alone. Why they couldn't leave all of us alone. Why did they care what our life was like? If they wanted to know how the life of a famous person was, then maybe they should get famous themselves.

All of a sudden the blasting sound of my ringtone broke into my thoughts. I scrambled to find it before it stopped ringing. I finally found it under the seat of my car (such a convenient place, right?).

"Hello?" I said breathlessly. I really need to get back to the gym if I lose my breath after just searching for my cell phone.

"Hey little brother! How was your night with Miss Selena?"

"It was fine…wait, how did you know I stayed at Selena's?"

Joe smirked, "Well I was talking about the rest of your night at the party with Selena, but it's good to know that you're at least getting some action."

Could Joe be anymore crude? I'm serious…he could have at least said it a little more kindly. Plus he knew the 'status' of my relationship with Selena, he was probably the only one. Believe it or not, I didn't like to broadcast my sex life all over the world.

"Nice Joe, real nice."

"Hey!" he defended himself, "I just connected the puzzle pieces. I mean, a pissed off Selena, you staying to…comfort her…you are basically drawing me a map right to these conclusions."

"Joe! Me and Selena…we didn't…well you know we're not…doing anything," I stuttered.

"Seriously bro, you're already twenty-one. You need to do something that is more than just a make-out session. And according to you, those make-out sessions aren't even heated. I'm almost ashamed to call you my little brother."

I groaned, "Okay I'm hanging up now."

"Wait! There was an actual reason for my call."

"What Joe?" I sighed, he says he might almost be ashamed to call me his brother; well I'm almost ashamed to call him my brother.

"Can I come over? Dem and Miles are having girl talk or something like that and I'm bored."

My ears picked up at Miley's name. I couldn't help it; it was as if I was drawn to her somehow. Cheesy, I know. "What does girl talk mean?"

"I don't know Nick, that's why it's called _girl talk_, us guys are not supposed to know. Now, can I come over? It's super boring over here."

I figured that even if I told him that he couldn't come over, he would be on my front porch anyway. I'd bet fifty bucks that he would. So there was basically no point in arguing with him.

"Sure Joe, come on over. It's not like you have your own house to go to or anything."

"Thanks bro!" he exclaimed, not catching my sarcasm, "I'm actually pulling into your driveway now so I'll see you when you get here."

Then he hung up. I should have known, of course he was already there. That was Joe. He was probably eating all my food right now. Oh well, I needed to get some stuff at the store later anyway. Maybe I could force Joe to go for me as payment for eating all of my food in the first place.

A couple minutes later I pulled up to my house, and sure enough Joe's car was in the driveway. I carefully walked inside and found him sprawled on my couch, watching the Yankee's game. My brother didn't even seem to notice me yet, so I flopped down on the recliner chair next to him. It was the Yankees after all. I think I could deal with Joe at least for a little while.

"I didn't know the Yankees were on today."

Still not really noticing my presence, Joe answered, "Yeah…they're playing the Red Sox. It's the last game of the series."

"Hmm…are they ahead in the series?"

"Nope it's tied. The Sox won one, and they won one," he said, finally looking in my direction, "Oh hey Nick! I didn't see you there." Then his eyes went straight back to the screen.

I just rolled my eyes and focused on the game as well. To this day my brothers and I were still huge Yankees fans. We tried to go to as many games as possible but with our busy schedules it was hard. But I liked this too, when I got to watch it with my family without being mobbed by fans. Even though I didn't like to admit it, watching the game with Joe made me happy. Brother bonding time as my mom used to call it.

I had gotten to my house during the 5th inning. The Yankees were winning, but the Red Sox had tied it up since then. It was now the bottom of the 9th, two outs, full count, and the bases were loaded. Basically, one of the most exciting parts of a baseball game if you were lucky enough to get the chance to watch it. Since the game was in Boston, the Red Sox were up to bat. All we needed was one more strike; all they needed was a hit.

"Come on guys, you can do this. Just one more strike," Joe yelled at the television. We were both standing up and screaming at the players as if it would make a difference.

The pitcher pitched the ball towards the batter and we watched as the ball collided with the bat. We heard the bat break and the fans go wild. And then it went over the right field fence.

Damn grand slam.

Joe stared at the television speechless and collapsed back on the couch. I followed his lead, but not before turning off the celebrations occurring on my screen. We did not have to be exposed to that.

"They lost," I stated.

"Yes they did."

"Damn."

"I know."

Well that was a little depressing. I hated when my teams lost. It made my day less pleasant.

"Soooo…" Joe said, looking towards me. Uh oh, that tone of voice wasn't good. It was his confession voice. Nothing good ever came from this tone.

"Yes Joe?"

"I kind of lied earlier, when we were on the phone."

"About what?" I asked suspiciously. He said a lot of different stuff while we were talking.

"I do know what Miley and Demi's 'girl talk' consisted of. Or at least I know what the basis of it is."

I know I shouldn't be curious, but I couldn't help it. This was my chance to find out what Miley was thinking. What she thought of me.

"Oh?" I asked, my voice slightly rising, "So, what were they talking about?"

"Well little bro, Miss Miley has a date tomorrow night. I just thought that you should know."

I stood still, not quite believing what he had said. Miley couldn't…she wouldn't go out on a date. I knew her. Especially since she just got back. She wouldn't be ready to jump into a relationship right away. Would she?

"Um…that's good for her," I said, not really knowing what else I could say, "How did they…how did they meet?"

"I don't know, Starbucks or something. All I caught in their squeals as I was leaving was, 'coffee', 'guy', 'date', 'tomorrow', and 'hot'. Then they made me leave."

I sat there thinking about everything. I should be happy for my ex-girlfriend who I was kind of in love with, right? Plus, I had a girlfriend who I loved and who I had been with for the past couple years. So I should be happy. I needed to be happy. I also needed to be happy for Miley. She deserved it more than anyone I know.

"Well that's nice…"

"Hey, cheer up. I don't think it's going to last long. Miley hasn't really dated anyone seriously since Liam. I don't think she really wants to."

Liam. They were more publicity than anything. Of course that guy took over the spot as Miley's best guy friend. What a douche. That was my title. Even when we were dating, that was my title too.

"Then why is she going on a date with that guy?"

"Who knows…maybe she just thought he was nice or something and wanted to give him chance."

"Whatever Joe, it's none of my business anyway. Miley is free to do whatever she wants to do to. I'm not her boyfriend, remember?"

I sighed. I didn't need Joe to get into my head right now. I didn't need his oh-so-amazing brotherly advice that he was giving me. I had Selena, Miley had this new guy. That was that.

All of a sudden I felt a pillow collide into my face. Sputtering from the impact (okay so yeah, it was a pillow so it didn't hurt, but it was still a PILLOW that my brother threw at me) I glared at Joe who was laughing. Laughing! He threw a pillow at my face and now he is laughing. I love you too brother.

"You…should have…seen your face!" he exclaimed. He was doubled over in laughter. I mean, it couldn't have been that funny.

"Why the hell did you do that Joe?"

"Because you're an idiot, that's why! Everyone knows that you and Miley are meant to be together and eventually you guys will be together again. So don't be stupid and give up. If you want to have any chance with her at all, you are going to have to fight for her. It isn't going to be all sunshine and butterflies, Nick. She is pretty much done with you, but there is a part of her, however small, that still loves you. She just doesn't realize it quite yet."

I stared shocked at Joe. Did he really just say something deep and meaningful?

He realized that I was looking at him strangely, so he smirked, "Yeah, yeah. I do know how to say stuff that actually means something. I'm deep."

And then he ruined it.

"Joe…she doesn't love me anymore. And I've got a stable life right now; I don't need to shake it up."

"Listen Nick, you know that I respect Selena and I think she's great, but she's not great for you. Face it; you're basically the same person. It's not a healthy relationship. And the fact that you're still completely in love with Miley is not fair to her."

"I'm not completely in love with Miley!"

But he looked pointedly at me, daring me to stick with my previous statement.

I finally relented because I knew he was right, "Okay so maybe I'm a little in love with her. But that doesn't mean I want to be with her at this very second. Maybe it's just the shock of her coming back. I didn't expect it so now all those feelings from way back when just came flooding back."

"Uh uh…sure it is. Listen Nick, you can blame it on the shock all you want, but that is not going to change the fact that you love Miley."

"But I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't Joe. Sure, I still love her a little bit, but that's all. I love Selena. Selena is the one who I want to be with."

"Then answer me this. When you woke up at Selena's this morning, was it Selena that you were thinking about? Was it her that you wanted to see first thing?"

He was staring at me so intensely that there was no way that I could lie to him. I hated it. I also hated that he was so protective of Miley, to the point where if I hurt her even a little bit, he would come after me. And I was his brother.

I just shook my head, "I don't want to talk about it Joe."

"If you hurt her Nick, if you hurt her _again_, she won't be able to handle it. She is one of the strongest people I know but if _you_ hurt her again, she will have a major breakdown. One that I don't think Demi and I can help her get through."

When I didn't say anything, my older brother took out his phone. I was trying my best not to talk to him, but I couldn't help but be curious as to who he was calling. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I asked.

"Who are you calling?" I asked exasperated.

"Demi," he answered simply.

"What? Why?"

"Because I need to tell her that you are coming over tonight for dinner. Duh."

I nodded my head at first before realizing exactly what he just said, "Wait, what? No Joe, I'm not coming over tonight! Miley is going to be there."

"Exactly, Miley will be there. You two are going to be spending a lot of time together over the coming months, so I think it's best if you two just get it all out of the way now. All of it. Have a nice dinner tonight with me and Demi, no pressure. Take the ice off of your relationship."

"Joe-"

"Hey Dem…Yeah I'm still here…I'm glad you and Miley are having a good time…Oh yeah, I was thinking Nick could come over for dinner tonight…Yes just Nick…I know, I know…So he can come over?...Okay perfect, make sure you know who is there…Yes you know who is Miley…Alright…Yes…Okay…Bye babe."

I watched as he hung up and then he turned to me, "So it's all settled, you're coming over tonight."

"And what exactly am I supposed to tell Selena? 'Hey hun, I'm going to go eat dinner with my brother, your ex-best friend, and my ex-girlfriend. Oh, and you're not invited.'"

He shrugged, "Sounds good to me. I just wouldn't make it so mean." Then he got up and walked into my kitchen, "Hey Nick, is this all the food you have?"

Joe. The guy who was set on ruining my life. The bane of my existence. My arch-enemy. The guy I wanted to kill right now for putting me into one of the most awkward situations of my life. Joe. The guy that was going to help me get back into Miley's good graces.

Tonight was going to be interesting.

_~xoxo~_

**How did you guys like it? Love it? I hope you didn't hate it…that would depress me. Lmao. Please review? I'll even leave you guys questions to answer!**

**Favorite part? Favorite character? Do you think Nick really is in love with Miley? Why do you think Joe is so team Niley?**

**Oh…and the whole thing about the Red Sox and the Yankees…haha. I'm a hardcore Angels/Giants fan and a Red Sox fan on the side. So I don't particularly like the Yankees. Sorry. Derek Jeter is nice though. I met him. :)**

**follow me on twitter// imagineyourlife**


	7. Chapter 7

This was supposed to be up Tuesday, but it wasn't even finished until tonight. I remembered that school work has to come first…school work that I had been neglecting for a week. ANYWAY, here's the chapter. I hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Disney or anybody or anything affiliated with it. Plus, this is legal because no last names are used.**

* * *

"No."

"Miley, come on. It's one night."

"No," I shook my head, "There is no way I'm going to be a part of this."

"It's only going to be him and Joe coming over. And he really wants to see you Miles. Please just put on a happy face for me."

Demi was looking at me with such a pleading face that I knew I had no choice but to say yes. She had done so much for me over the years that the least I could do was do whatever she needed me to do. She wanted a happy face? Fine, she would get a happy face. But I wouldn't be happy about it.

She already could tell that she had convinced me, that much was obvious. You could tell by the relieved look on her face. "Thanks Miley, I owe you big time."

"No, this is me beginning to repay you for everything you have done for me over the years."

"Hey girly," she wrapped an arm around me, "You know that I would do anything for you. We'll be together through thick and thin, remember?"

"That doesn't mean I can't be grateful for everything."

Before she could answer, Demi's phone started ringing again. She glanced at it curiously, "It's Joe…again."

She made no move to answer it. I looked at her weirdly, I mean her boyfriend was calling her and she wasn't even considering answering her phone. It stopped ringing, so she happily continued to chatter on about the two of us. Then the same ringtone blasted through our conversation. Again, Demi made no move to get it.

"Uh…Dem? Aren't you going to answer?"

"Nah. Joe probably just wants me to pick something up for him for dinner. I feel like hanging out with you instead."

"Okay…?" I said confused. Only Demi, and possibly Joe, would understand what goes on inside her head all the time. I only have the slightest idea about sixty percent of the time.

'_Cause if you liked it you should have put a ring on it, if you liked it you shoulda put a ring on it. Don't be mad once you see he want it, if you liked it you shoulda put a ring on it.'_

And that was _my _ringtone for Joe. Why is he calling me?

"Joe?"

"Miley! I finally got a hold of you guys. Can you ask Demi if we can have that really good pasta stuff tonight? She'll know what it is if you ask her."

I shrugged because what harm could asking Demi do? "Joe wants to know if you can make that really good pasta for dinner tonight."

She rolled her eyes, "Tell him that if he wants the pasta, he can make it himself. It takes way too much energy to make the entire thing."

I put the phone back up to my ear, "She says that if you want it, you can make it yourself."

"But…I don't know how to make it." He said it so innocently that I almost laughed. He is one of the sweetest guys I know, and the good thing is that he doesn't ever fake it. He doesn't need to. It just comes naturally to him. He's just…Joe.

I heard another voice in the background, "Come on Joe, I really want to try that pasta. I'm tired of you saying how awesome it is. I want to know how good it is."

"Is that Nick?" I said loudly into the phone.

"Yeah, why?"

"Tell him that if he wants that pasta so badly, he can make the damn thing himself." Then I angrily hung up and shoved my phone back into my pocket. I looked up to see Demi staring at me with raised eyebrows. She seemed a little concerned.

"Um Miles? What was all that about? You just hung up on my fiancée."

"Nick was just ticking me off, that's all."

"For what? Asking me to make the pasta?"

"It was….it was the way…the way he said it!" I stuttered. Okay so maybe hanging up on Joe because I didn't want to hear Nick's voice was a little harsh. Or very harsh, however you want to look at it. I just didn't want to have to deal with my ex-boyfriend until the dinner tonight. Why I even agreed to the dinner in the first place is a mystery to me. Everyone knew it was going to end very badly. I mean, me and Nick in the same room together? Forget about the 2012 that never came, this was going to be bigger than that.

Demi looked really worried now, "Just…play nice tonight okay? Please? I just want us to be like before. When we were all happy, but I need the two of you to get along. I know that Nick is all for it. And you know that too. So now it's up to you. Please Miley?"

"Demi…it is so different from before. Before is just a memory, one that I either have to hold on with all my strength or I have to let go of it. And maybe by letting go I can start over with him, but I'm too afraid to do that quite yet. I'm scared that if I do let go, I won't be able to get him back. So for right now, I'd rather have the Nick that I can yell at and hate, than no Nick at all."

I could see the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. She wiped away the ones that had escaped quickly, and wrapped me in a tight hug. She did exactly what I needed my best friend to do. She just held me as I cried, really cried, for the first time in a long time.

"Shhh…it's okay Miley. Everything's going to be okay."

I had cried in Demi's arms for a good half hour before the tears had finally stopped coming. They just…stopped. I felt like I would never be able to cry again after that. But I knew I would. Whether it was in one week, one month, or one year, I would cry again. I always did.

I was now grabbing my first glass of wine from the counter; I guessed it would be the first of many. Demi was fluttering about the house, setting up. She had called Joe back after I had gone to clean up after my cry-fest. Apparently she had just told him that I was having a rough day and that maybe bringing Nick over wasn't such a good idea. But in order to not disappoint Nick, they agreed on a compromise. He would come over right when dinner was ready to avoid the pre-dinner awkwardness.

Yeah, because Nick coming over an hour later than he was supposed to was going to fix everything. Fat chance of that happening. It would just mean that I would be drinking more.

I heard the doorbell ring and Demi shouted to me from wherever in the house she was, "Can you get the door?"

"Do I have to?" I yelled back.

"Miley Ray, get the damn door."

I groaned, "Fine."

Walking over to the front door I took a deep breath, pasted a smile on my face, and opened the door quickly, "Hey guys! Glad you could make it!"

The two boys were obviously baffled by my enthusiastic response (it was no secret to them how I felt about this night), so they hesitated before Joe spoke, "Um…Miles?"

"Come in, come in! There's no time to waste. Demi almost has dinner on the table." I pulled them both in (okay well I pulled in Joe and left Nick to find his own way in, but really what was the difference?). Joe continued to look at me like I had just boarded a one way trip to Crazyland, but I ignored him. The more I talked, the less I felt. The less I felt, the more I could breathe. Or at least pretend that I was breathing.

Demi popped out from the kitchen and I watched her smile grow as it always did when she saw her two favorite guys. Well, mostly one guy in particular. I bet you could never guess who it was.

"Hey baby," Joe grinned and engulfed her in a passionate kiss. I looked away disgusted (who really needed to see that?). I even took a chance and glanced at Nick. I saw that he had the same look on his face. Strangely, he looked up at me and our eyes connected. I smiled and made a gagging sound, which he silently laughed at.

It was weird how normal the entire thing was, we were laughing about the fact that Joe and Demi had no problem showing PDA. No problem at all. It was strange actually. But anyway, it was just like a few years ago. It was almost awkward.

Okay, a lot awkward. And as soon as we both realized that we quickly looked away.

"Um…guys?" I said interrupting the couple, "Can you guys please, you know…stop?"

They pulled away after a minute and Demi giggled, "Sorry. Why don't you guys sit down and I'll get dinner on the table."

She was off again leaving the three of us to sit down at the dining table. I sat down first and then Joe sat down across from me, forcing Nick to take a seat next to mine. I unconsciously moved my chair a little farther away from him. I felt bad as soon as I did, but unfortunately he noticed, so it wasn't like I could just move my chair back. He tried holding back his frown, but I could still see it on his face.

To break up this uncomfortable situation, Joe of course came to the rescue, "So Miley, why did you hang up on me this morning? That wasn't very nice."

He had this twinkle in his eye that made me want to slap him. I swear he was almost worse than Demi. This was something that I did not want to talk about. At all. We all knew why I hung up, it was kind of obvious. But of course he had to go and bring it up right as my ex-boyfriend was sitting next to me, adding to all of the tension that was already piled on top of this night.

"Yeah, why did you hang up? Joe was pretty offended," Nick chuckled as I glared at him. Not him too. This was a very sensitive subject for me and I didn't need the two of them making fun of it. Especially Nick, he should know better than to mess with me when it came to my relationship with him.

Luckily Demi walked in immediately after Nick posed his question and she could feel the tension right away. "What's going on?" she asked unsurely.

"Nothing Dem. We're just talking about how good the food is going to be, that's all," I attempted to add a smile to my lie, but it came out half-heartedly. Of course my best friend, who was able to read me like a book, noticed.

"Boys?" she asked turning to the other people in the room, "What were you guys talking about?"

"We were just asking Miley why she hung up on me earlier, that's all."

I watched as her eyes went wide and she sent me a quick apologetic look, which I just waved off. Then she turned back to Joe and sent him an angry stare, "Joe, stop. Now."

"Demi-"

But she cut him off and turned to Nick, "And you, leave her alone. You wanted tonight to happen so Joe and I made it happen. Do not make me regret doing this. The both of you will stop talking about this right now. This dinner was supposed to be about us coming together again as best friends. Sit down and shut up."

"We're already sitting Demi…" Nick said trying to lighten the room up, but unfortunately that just earned him another glare from her.

A couple minutes later, all of the food was served and we were all eating quietly. All that could be heard was the sound of the utensils hitting the plates. I was getting sick of it. Sure, this night isn't what I wanted, but it didn't have to be awkward. We weren't teenagers anymore. We shouldn't be doing this, we shouldn't be like this.

"Did you guys know that I hate bananas now?" I said randomly.

The entire table started giggling at first, but then they broke out into full-out laughter. The kind that makes you grasp your side for a breath because you can't breathe. The kind of laughter that is infectious and carries on, it doesn't just stop after a couple of minutes. The kind that brings tears to your eyes, like it was doing to me now.

When Joe was finally able to speak, he looked at me, "Where in the world did that come from?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. I just realized this second that I don't like bananas anymore. I used to love them, but now…I don't know, I just don't."

"I'm glad that you don't like bananas anymore," Nick smiled.

"Me too. I guess a lot really has changed…"

Now I knew that we all knew that Nick and I were no longer talking about bananas. We were songwriters, we liked metaphors. Sue us. And if you don't know who I was talking about…well you should. In fact I really doubt that you don't know, but just in case you don't, it's about a certain guy that some people compare to a monkey.

Get it now?

Yeah, I thought you would. I really hope that Nick isn't too sensitive about that subject because if he is, I just made this dinner go up to the highest spot on the awkward scale.

"So what are you going to do Miles?" Joe asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like…I don't know, what are you going to do? Are you going to go back into the Hollywood industry or are you going to try something new?"

"I haven't really decided yet. I mean, if I got some kind of offer I might consider it, but I'm not ready to jump right back into the thick of things right now. I've liked the break," I smiled.

Nick nudged my shoulder playfully and I could feel the tingles shoot through my nerves, "What did you do while you were gone? For some reason I pictured you as a tour guide in Africa. You know, 'And here we have the lions. Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle or you will be eaten.'"

My mouth dropped open, out of all of the professions in the world that is one he saw me as doing? I smacked him across the chest while everyone else was still laughing. I really tried my best to keep the glare on my face, but I just ended up breaking down into a fit of giggles instead.

"I was serious! Well, kind of…what did you do for all these years?" he asked, while his laughter finally calmed down.

"I was or still am…I haven't quite figured that part out yet but anyway, a writer. And I love it. It's not the same as songwriting, but it's still pretty amazing."

"That's great! I can see you as a writer."

"She really is amazing at it," Demi chimed in, "You should read some of her articles. I have every one she has ever written in my closet."

"Stalker…" I said teasingly.

"You bet, babe," she said as she stuck her tongue out in my direction. Demi was…I guess you could say immature. But in a good way. The way that makes you smile whenever you are in a room with her.

"Wait…can I read these articles of yours?" Nick asked.

"Not a chance Nicky."

I was surprised at how easy that rolled off my lips. My old nickname for him. He always told me that he hated it, but I knew that he secretly loved when I called him that. I watched him carefully right after I said the word that could possibly be considered as taboo. He went silent for a minute, it almost seemed like he stopped breathing (now that scared me a little bit), but then I saw the tiniest smile come onto his face.

It was small, but it was there.

I could tell that he was trying his best to hide it to make it less awkward, but I was glad that I was able to see it. It gave me a warm feeling inside of my stomach. Like this was the start of something good, of something new.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly…for the most part. It basically went like this:

We talked about me for a little bit and then Demi and Joe fought about something completely pointless while Nick and I watched laughing. Next, Nick and I got into a little argument about something that I can't even remember and then we all started laughing and remembering the old times. Then, Joe said something to tick off Nick and he ended up being chased around the house by him and finally we all ended up sitting in the living room all talking about random things until we couldn't talk through our laughter.

So, yeah…it was a smooth night.

Demi slowly got up from the couch and (fake) stretched, while (fake) yawning, "Well, look how late it is. I think Joe is just going to stay here for tonight, I don't want him driving home this late. Goodnight guys."

"Yeah, goodnight brother, goodnight sister," Joe smirked and followed a squealing Demi back to their bedroom.

I just shook my head and smiled at Nick, "Do you think those kids will ever grow up?"

"Nah…they're too happy being who they are."

"Can you imagine them being parents? I have this feeling that they would be the best at it."

"Of course they would. They're Demi and Joe," he grinned. Reluctantly, he looked at his watch, "It's 11:30 already?"

"Wow…I guess it is. You should probably get going."

"Yeah…" We walked slowly to the front door and I was already dreading closing it behind him. Things were so good tonight; I just didn't want this feeling of contentment to go away. I knew it eventually would though; it always did.

As Nick started to walk out, he suddenly turned around and looked me in the eye. His stare was so intense, but I couldn't look away no matter how hard I tried.

"Miley…" But he didn't continue after that. I knew that if I leaned forward right now that he would kiss me. I wanted to lean forward and I even started to. I could feel his breath, but then it hit me.

We weren't 'us' anymore. There was no 'us'. And I couldn't do this to him or to Selena. Neither of them deserved it. When I came back here, I didn't want to mess anything up. All I wanted was to be Demi's maid of honor and to not mess up whatever life all my friends have made for themselves over the years.

But I was doing the exact opposite. Fabulous.

I turned my head before anything happened and then I cleared my throat, "Be ready tomorrow morning. We're going to go for a killer run."

Nick was still dazed from our almost-kiss, but he was coherent enough to answer, "You hate running."

"A lot of things have changed Nick. A lot of things."

_~xoxo~_

**DUN…DUN…DUN. An almost-kiss? What did you guys think of that? They're getting closer…**

**Review and tell me what you think? It would be a whole lot. :) Here are some questions that you can answer:**

**Favorite character? Favorite part? What do you think is going to happen on Miley and Nick's run? Do you think that the almost-kiss will affect their relationship? Do you think the characters are believable? **

_**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**_


	8. Chapter 8

Aloha readers. Here's the next chapter. By the way, I'm so happy with the amount of reviews I've been getting. The fact that you guys like this story is awesome. Plus, more reviews makes me write faster. I get inspired.

**Disclaimer: This story is legal. No last names are used.**

* * *

I woke up to the smell of bacon wafting in through my room. I was disoriented at first, considering I was not the one cooking. Obviously. But I slowly got out of my bed and stumbled my way to the kitchen.

"Hey sleepyhead," her chipper voice said.

"Sel?"

She looked at me weirdly, "Of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

"Uh…no one." I walked over to her and kissed her lightly, "What are you doing here so early?"

"I thought I would make you breakfast silly, considering you had a hard night last night," she snuck a glance at me, "So…um, how was the dinner?"

"It was interesting…nothing really special happened. We just talked about stuff."

I looked away guiltily. Some special did happen, or at least it almost happened. I felt horrible lying to her, lying to my girlfriend of all people, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I think it would just be better to bury it and never bring it up again. Miley and I had just had a little too much to drink was all. The almost-kiss didn't mean a thing.

At least, that's what I told myself.

Selena handed me a plate full of food, "Here you go. I didn't know what you wanted, so I just made everything."

"Thanks."

As I dug into my food, my girlfriend sat next to me and just watched me. It didn't bother me at first, but then it just became unnerving.

"Uh…aren't you going to eat?" I asked, trying to wash away some of the awkwardness that had settled upon us.

"I'm not really hungry. I had a small breakfast before I came over here."

That was another thing. She didn't really like eating in front of me. And when she did eat, she ate very daintily, and in very small portions. I think she felt like she had to be this perfect girl when she was with me and she doesn't have to be. I love her because of who she is, not who she thinks she has to be.

"You can eat you know, I won't get disgusted. I promise," I said, winking at her.

"I'm just not hungry, okay?"

I was taken aback by the warning laced in her tone, "Okay. Sorry."

She smiled, "It's fine. I'm just not hungry, Nick. It's no big deal, I promise."

I grabbed onto her hand and caressed it, "Okay, I believe you."

"We should do something tonight!" she said happily, while getting up to clean up the kitchen.

"You don't have to clean Sel, I'll do it. You already made me breakfast."

But she just waved me off, "It's no problem, I don't have anything else to do. Now, like I was saying, we should do something tonight. Just the two of us. I feel like we haven't spent alone time together in a long time."

My mind immediately flashed to Miley and how ever since she had gotten back, things had been so different between Selena and me. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get the bubbly brunette out of my mind. Sure, Selena and I might be spending time together tonight, but Miley and I were already hanging out in the morning.

She would always come first. Always.

"Sure Sel, we can spend time together tonight."

She smiled happily, "Okay! Maybe we can go out and grab something to eat. There's that new Italian restaurant that you really wanted to try."

"Oh. Um…sure. That sounds great."

Truthfully, I had hoped that she had just wanted to stay in for the night. Every single time that we did something together, it involved going out. She wanted to be seen, not tucked away inside. I respected that; I knew how badly she wanted to be recognized and placed in magazines across the country. I just wanted one night completely alone with her. Was that too much to ask?

"Great! I'll call the restaurant now and make the reservations. I'm sure that we'll be able to get in, I mean it is us."

With that she went back into the bedroom to grab the phone. I checked my watch and realized that Miley would be here any minute and he wasn't even close to being ready to go. And I hadn't even told Selena that I was going.

Shit.

I finished the rest of my breakfast at the speed of lightening, and then I fled to my room where I threw on the first workout outfit that I could find. Lucky for me, it was actually the one I wore every time I worked out. Not some dorky-looking one.

This entire time, Selena was staring at me like I was a crazed man. She couldn't say anything because she was still on the phone. As I was putting on my running shoes, I heard that Selena's conversation with the restaurant was coming to a close.

"Okay, yes. Seven o'clock. Thank you very much. Have a nice day." She placed the receiver back onto the hook, "Okay, our reservations are set for seven o'clock tonight. They said that they would be happy to seat us."

"Perfect," I smiled. I quickly stood up when I heard the door bell ring, "I've got to get that."

"Who is it?" Selena yelled after me.

"It's Miley. We're going for a run."

She had followed me out from the bedroom, "Oh okay…wait what? You're going for a run with Miley? Why didn't you tell me Nick?"

"Because," I replied over my shoulder as I started to open the door, "I just got up a little while ago and I just remembered."

"Nick, I-"

But I opened the front door to cut her off. I was met by the sight of a gorgeous Miley. She was all decked out in her running gear: a tank top, hat, sunglasses, and…short shorts. Short, _spandex_ shorts. Oh boy, if Selena saw…

"Nick! Ready to go?"

"Yes!" I tried to shuffle her out the door before the awkward confrontation between the two girls occurred.

"Nick."

I guess I wasn't that lucky…

I turned back around to face my girlfriend, "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

There was ice apparent in her voice. I was almost afraid of what would happen if I didn't follow her.

"Hey Selena!" Miley said happily, with a giant smile on her face.

"Miley. I have to talk to Nick for a moment," she said trying her hardest to keep her biting tone away.

"Oh…that's fine. I can wait."

Selena latched on to my arm and pulled me back into the bedroom. "I don't want you to go with her."

"We already made plans Sel, I can't just cancel. Plus I haven't seen her in forever, I just want to talk to her some more. To see how she has been doing."

"Nick, you're going for a run with your ex-girlfriend who, if I remember correctly, you were totally and completely in love with. And sometimes I still think that you are."

"You still think that I'm what? In love with Miley?" I said incredulously.

"Yes Nick!" she exclaimed, "Miley is this girl who you gave your heart to. Most of your songs are written about her; about loving her and missing her and that scares me. I've never said anything because I didn't want to start a fight, but it scares me. So when you go for runs with her and you're so comfortable about it even though she's only been back in town for a couple days, that sets off all of the warning signs in my head."

I took her hands in mine, "Selena, I love you. Just because Miley came back to town isn't going to change that."

She shook her head, "You just don't get it."

Then she rushed past me and towards the front door. I heard her mutter a quick, "Goodbye," to Miley and then I heard her car start up and drive away. I sighed, that was definitely not how I wanted this morning to go.

I slowly walked back to where the brunette was standing awkwardly, "Okay…ready?"

"Nick, are you sure that you want to go? We don't have to; we can always reschedule. I don't want to get in the middle of anything. It seems like me being here has already started a fight between you and your girlfriend."

"Miley, it's fine. We're friends and friends hang out, right?"

She hesitated for a second, debating on what to do, "If you're sure…"

"I am, now let's go!"

Miley laughed at my enthusiasm as we began to run down in front of the houses in my neighborhood (I couldn't tell if she was making fun of me or if she was actually enjoying herself), "Alright. You're like the energizer bunny this morning! Do you think that I could get you into a bunny suit?"

"Tell you what, if you get me that giant drum and those cool sunglasses, then I will put on the bunny suit."

"Okay. That is now officially put on my mental to-do list. You are so going to regret this one day," she snickered.

I watched as she used her pro skills to run backwards so that she could face me, "So, what's up with you? I need all the juicy details. Three years is a long time to be gone."

I looked down, "It definitely is a long time. I haven't really done a lot. Uh, the Jonas Brothers came out with another album, and I came out with another solo album. Then there were a couple of tours, not really anything exciting."

Meanwhile Miley was staring at me like I was crazy. Her weird expression was actually creeping me out. "What?" I finally said.

"You call touring and releasing two different albums not exciting?"

"Well…I mean it's exciting, but it's normal at the same time. I don't really know differently."

She sighed, "And that Nick, is exactly the reason why I left in the first place. Touring, albums, award shows…that shouldn't be the only thing that you know. You should experience more than that; you should be more than that."

"Are you happy that you left? I mean, you seem like you are, but you were always the best at hiding things."

"You know, I really am," she laughed, "It was different at first…and definitely scary, but leaving was the best thing that I've ever done."

I nudged her shoulder with a smile, "Even better than being the star of one of the biggest Disney phenomenons ever?"

"Well that was pretty cool," she giggled.

I stared at her with a grin on my face. She was still so beautiful after all these years. And she looked so carefree, so happy. It was a huge change from a couple years ago when all she could do was place that fake smile on her face and pretend everything was okay.

"What?" she asked, blushing at the fact that I had been staring at her.

"Nothing," I shrugged, "You're just happy is all. I'm glad."

"I think the lack of oxygen from running is going to your brain. What's with all the compliments?"

"Great, now I'm not allowed to give you a compliment?"

"I don't think that Selena would like it very much."

"I think a compliment is pretty harmless, don't you think?" I asked her with my eyebrows raised.

Miley was silent for a minute. I couldn't tell what she was thinking; I could usually read her like a book. She seemed like she was deep in thought and I could hear her uneven breathing.

Finally she whispered, "Nothing is harmless when it comes to us."

I was at a loss for words. When she noticed she quickly focused on something else, "I'll race you to the end of the block!"

And just like that she took off at a full sprint with me trailing close behind her. How she was able to do that, I have no idea. How she could just simply forget everything below the surface and go back to skating on the top. It was like that one comment, the one that could have changed everything, never existed; like it never left her mouth.

And you have no idea how much I wish that it did.

Three hours later, I walked into my house whistling. Yes, whistling. I had just had one of the best days of my life; I think I had the right to do some whistling.

We had run around the neighborhood a couple times before heading down to the beach. The sand was difficult to run on, but I had fun chasing Miley into the waves. Then we hung out at the park for a little while and we took turn pushing each other on the swings (we always tended to act like kids when we were around each other).

Then, of course, Miley exclaimed that she was hungry, so we went to the local ice cream parlor where she ordered a double scoop of cookie dough, while I got a single scoop of cotton candy. We met up with some fans and we listened to their squealing as they fawned over the fact that Miley was back.

I watched her interact with the fans and she was in the zone. She missed it. No matter how much she tried to deny it, I know she missed it.

"Nick. You're home."

I shook myself out of my thoughts and watched as Selena walked out from the living room. I was actually surprised that she was here. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize, but you had actually gone with her, so I decided to wait for you to come home. That was two and a half hours ago. I didn't know running took that long."

"We did some stuff in between. I'm sorry that you had to wait here all alone."

I walked past her and headed towards my room. I could feel the sweat on my face and it definitely was not a comfortable feeling. Selena followed me. "So how was your date?"

"I wasn't a date Selena! Will you just drop that? You're my girlfriend, not Miley," I said, my voice slightly raised in irritation.

"Yeah…" she said quietly, "but you wish she was, right?"

I put my head in my hands and I tried my best not to snap at her, "Selena…"

"No Nick. Don't you dare tell me that I'm crazy for saying that. I see the way you look at her and it's not the way you look at me. I know you love me, but it's the kind of love that doesn't last forever. Face it, I'm just filling in for Miley until you two get your acts together and actually get together."

I looked at her and grabbed her shoulders, "I love you. I chose you. The fact that Miley is back doesn't change anything, I told you that. What we had is in the past now. We're now two very different people." I don't know if I said those things to convince her, or to convince myself. I think it was a little bit of both to be honest.

"I'm scared Nick. I'm scared of losing you and it's making me crazy. So I have a question for you: Should I be worried for us?"

Every part of me was screaming '_Yes!_', but unfortunately I just smiled and said, "No Sel, we're going to be just fine."

I pulled her into a hug and I felt her wrap her arms around me, like she was trying to keep from losing me. I kissed the top of her head and pulled away, "Why don't you head back to your place and I'll come pick you up at seven for our date. I have to get all ready."

She smiled, "Okay." Reaching up she placed a kiss on my lips, "I love you."

"Love you too."

I took a short time getting ready and when I finally was I realized that I had a lot of time to spare before I had to pick up Selena.

'_Wow…bad planning on my part_,' I thought. It really was. What was I supposed to do for the next couple hours? There was no game on, and nothing good was on television at this hour.

I ended up in my music room writing songs. Typical me. I was really inspired too, which was weird because recently I had absolutely no inspiration that it worried me.

Unfortunately I had lost track of time and when I finally glanced at the clock I realized that I was supposed to pick up Selena five minutes ago. And she got pissed when I was late. At least she usually did.

I drove over to her apartment as quick as possible. She was standing outside looking anxious. When she saw me drive up, she quickly opened the passenger door, "You're late."

"Sorry Sel, I lost track of time."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're here now, but I am curious. What was so important that you didn't pay attention to the fact that you had to pick me up?"

"Song writing. You know how I get when I'm in the zone."

She sighed, "Oh."

I was surprised at her reaction. I would think that she would be more excited. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just…interesting timing, right?" She crossed her arms over her chest, "You've been telling me for months about your lack of inspiration, and now all of sudden you have tons of it. Right when she's back in town."

I groaned. She was back on this kick again; I had seriously thought I had curbed all of her worries earlier. "Don't start Selena."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, defending herself, "All I'm saying is that it's interesting timing, that's all."

She didn't say anything else to me for the rest of the car ride. And here I thought that tonight would actually be a nice night. I pulled up to _Luciana's _and walked into the restaurant with Selena in front of me.

She walked up to the hostess, "We have a reservation for seven o'clock."

It was obvious that the woman recognized us because her eyes automatically widened. "Oh ye-yes…of course. Ri-right this way," she stuttered.

We followed her to our seats, a table that was semi-secluded to give us a little privacy. Being the gentleman, I pulled out my girlfriend's seat for her so that she could sit and she sat down gracefully.

The hostess handed out our menus as soon as I sat down and told us that our waiter would be with us in just a minute.

"So this is nice, right?" I asked tentatively. I was hoping that this dinner could stop the awkwardness between us.

"Yeah," she smiled, "It really is nice."

"And then he jumped out from behind the door and she screamed. You should have seen her face, it was hilarious!"

'_Now that's a voice that I recognize…_' I thought silently. I turned and saw Miley walking straight towards us. But she wasn't paying any attention to me and Selena; all her attention was focused on the guy standing next her.

He was laughing. A lot. "And what did she say afterwards? I can't imagine that she would actually be too happy about that."

"You know what Nate, I think Joe was sleeping on the couch for a little while after that. But, oh my gosh…it was so funny. Those two, I swear they are going to kill me one day."

Of course Miley and her mystery guy were seated right next to us. Seriously, one table away. I couldn't believe my luck. I must have done something to piss off the gods lately. Thankfully, she had noticed us yet and I was secretly hoping that she wouldn't. How that was even possible, I have no idea, but I wished for it anyway.

But Selena noticed her and she just had to say something.

"Miley? You're here? Seriously?"

I watched nervously as she finally turned to look at us. Her face showed the slightest hint of a frown, but then as though it had always been there, she morphed it into a giant grin. One that I was pretty sure was a fake one.

"Oh…hey guys."

**_~xoxo~_**

**Oh look, a cliffhanger. Sorry guys, I had to do it. It is a necessary evil. The same with Nelena; I have to say that I cringed the entire time I was writing their parts. But it's all good.**

**Review?**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	9. Chapter 9

Woooo! Another chapter! Happy late Niley Day guys. And Happy Father's Day. I hope that you like the chapter. :) Oh, and Happy Miley-and-Nick-Sang-BTS-Live Day. You know what? Let me just say Happy Niley Month. That's so much easier.

**Disclaimer: This is legal. No last names are used. **

* * *

"_Oh…hey guys."_

"I didn't know that you were going to be here." She turned to Nick, "Look honey, Miley is here too."

"I see that Selena," he muttered, obviously uncomfortable.

When she turned back to look at me, she must have finally seen Nate. "And who are you?"

"Uh…Nate. Nice to meet you…" he trailed off.

"Miley, you're on a date?"

"Yes, I am on a date." _'And you happen to be making it extremely awkward…'_ I thought to myself.

Selena seemed way too giddy about the fact that I was out with a guy. Way to giddy. First of all, I don't think she even likes me. Second of all, I wasn't even as excited as she was. And third of all, I don't think she likes me.

"Nick, she is on a date! How sweet is that?" she said happily, with an extra sparkle in her eye.

Okay, apparently she now thinks that because I am on a date, it means I'm no longer a threat to her and Nick's relationship. Well newsflash sweetheart, I could steal Nick away anytime I wanted to. I just wish she would get that through her head.

Wait…I don't think that I was supposed to be thinking that. At all. What the hell was I doing? I had no right to be thinking things like that.

"It's very sweet," Nick replied dully. Gosh, could he be at least a little happy for me? We were supposed to be friends and friends are supposed to support each other. But I get nothing. Well not nothing exactly; he was keeping his eyes focused on the glass of water in front of him and he was gripping his fork so hard that I thought he would bend it in half.

"Anyway, Nate, this is Nick and his girlfriend Selena. They are…old friends of mine. Guys this is Nate," I said, introducing them to each other.

Nick merely nodded at him, while Selena held her hand out. "It is so great to meet you," she gushed, "I'm so glad that Miley has found someone."

Nate flashed me a subtle what-the-hell-is-this-girl's-problem look. I just offered him a shrug and a silent apology. But I did figure that it was time for us to stop the conversation between the two tables. I was trying to go on a date here.

"Well it was great seeing you guys. Enjoy your dinner and we can catch up a little later when we're both not in the middle of dates," I said as nicely as possible

"Oh of course," Selena smiled, "You two have fun on your date!"

Then she turned back to Nick and I heard her begin a conversation with him as if she had never talked to me in the first place.

"So that was weird, right? It wasn't just me?" Nate asked.

"Trust me…that was definitely weird," I laughed. "But you got through your first official run-in with people that run in the same circle as me."

"And is it strange that I'm actually proud of that accomplishment?"

"Oh no, I would be too. I would be very, very proud," I smiled.

The rest of the date went surprisingly smoothly. I thought that with my luck something would happen to mess it up. But I found out that maybe I could actually have a normal, Los Angeles night for once. I found it really easy to talk to Nate. We didn't delve into personal subjects, but we were able to easily keep the conversation from lagging.

Nate, I found out, was actually a very fun guy. But he still had a serious side to him that I liked. He made me laugh until I couldn't catch my breath, but he also had me enthralled by stories from his high school years.

Still, none of this stopped me from glancing over at the table next to me every couple minutes. I couldn't help it; it was as if I was magnetically attracted to him.

I hated it.

I really tried my best to stay focused on Nate, and I really enjoyed his company, but I couldn't help by look at Nick every once and a while to see what he was doing. And I have to admit that I smiled every time I caught him staring at me.

Selena was oblivious to the whole thing, but I think Nate noticed. Luckily, he was nice enough not to mention anything. He just kept smiling and laughing with me.

I think that this relationship could go somewhere if I let it.

The waitress came over to clear our plates. She flashed us a smile and let her gaze linger on my date for a second longer than was necessary before talking to us. "So can I get you two anything for dessert?"

I looked to Nate, because he had already insisted that he would be the one to pay, and waited for his response. He paused for a second before replying. "I think we are good. Thank you though."

I felt like my heart dropped into my stomach. No dessert? That meant he didn't enjoy the date. Everyone knew that ordering dessert meant that you wanted to continue the date for as long as possible. So apparently I read his signals wrong, he didn't like me as much as I thought he did.

He paid the check and then got up from his chair. I followed suit, then turned to Selena and Nick, who were still sitting next to us. And guess what they were enjoying. Yes, dessert. Life wasn't fair sometimes. "Bye guys, I'll see you later."

"Bye Miley," they both said.

I met up with Nate outside and he smiled at me. "I had a nice time tonight."

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, really. Which is why I wanted to get you the best dessert for our first date."

I laughed, "The…best dessert? And what would that be?"

He reached down and intertwined our hands as we were walking, which shot my happiness levels through the roof. "You see, as we were driving over here, I saw this really quaint gelato shop and I don't know why, but you seem like the kind of girl who would love some good gelato."

I stopped in my tracks, "Are you serious? Gelato? Heaven on Earth? Where is this place and why haven't I been there before?"

He laughed and tugged me along, "I was hoping that you would feel that way. It's actually right up the street. I figured why would we get a dessert from the restaurant when we could have one that was twice as good from somewhere else?"

"I like your thinking," I smiled.

He was right when he said the shop was right down the street. It was called _Aunt Lucy's Gelato Shop_.

Awww…what a cute name. I liked places like these; the ones that had that certain hometown feel to them. As we walked in, I heard a little bell ding above our heads. Another thing I liked. Not too many shops had that little bell anymore.

"Hi there!" a sweet, old lady said happily to us as we walked in. She had to be somewhere in her mid-60s, but she had a smile that lit up her face. She was just one of those happy people, I could tell right away. The type of person that you wanted to be friends with right away.

"Hi," I smiled, "Are you Aunt Lucy?"

She wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to us, "Well I go by Grandma Lucy now, but putting aunt instead makes me feel younger, so yes. That is exactly who I am."

I giggled, "Well then Aunt Lucy, what kind of gelato do you recommend?"

"Well honey, it depends on what you are in the mood for." She led us towards the gelato, "I've got chocolates and the nut flavors, the creams and the fruits, and then finally I have the odd flavors that no one ever orders because no one is brave enough to."

"Hey Nate, what do you think you're going to get?"

"I have no idea. There are so many flavors to choose from…"

I nodded my head, "I know. This is probably the hardest decision of my life."

"Oh I'm sure you have had harder decisions," Lucy said smiling, "but I'm honored that you think this one is so hard. You know, it always helps if you guys split up. One of you takes that one end of the counter and the other takes the other end."

"Good idea. Nate, you go down there and I'll stay here. That way I can annoy Aunt Lucy here with all of my questions."

"Sweetheart," she said, wrapping her arm around me, "This is what I live for. Well, this and my family, but you wouldn't be able to annoy me even if you tried."

"I'm glad." I felt so comfortable around her it was crazy. But something…something was familiar about it. I couldn't place what it was, but I felt like I had been here before. It was weird though, because I don't ever remember coming in here before.

Ten minutes later and we were still browsing through the flavors. Aunt Lucy had already gone through them all with me, and now I was just in the process of choosing one. Nate was attracted to the somewhat exotic flavors, while I was fixated on chocolate. Although, as I was looking, I could feel Lucy's gaze on me. Every time that she looked at me, I felt like she knew something about me that I didn't know. It got me curious, but I was too afraid of saying anything for fear that I would sound crazy.

"I remember the first time you came in here," she said quietly with a wistful smile on her face, "You looked so…happy, so carefree. It made me smile. And then you came in again with him, and you were still that happy girl, but something was different. I then heard from my granddaughters that the two of you had broken up. Then finally came the third time. It was a couple of years later, but I knew that it was the same cute couple."

All this time I stayed frozen, pretending that I was still browsing the flavors when in reality, I was hanging on to every word that she said.

"You had a smile on your face, but it wasn't the same. You looked worn and exhausted and just…older. You had lived more than the last time that I saw you. Still, you smiled and you were charming and he couldn't take his eyes off of you. And that is when I knew."

"That's when you knew what?" I whispered.

"I knew that you two were meant to be. Because even though you looked like you had gone to hell and back, he still looked at you the same way he looked at you the first time you stepped into my shop."

I opened my mouth to respond, but I was interrupted by Nate who had just walked over, "Okay, after strenuous decision-making I have finally decided on my gelato flavor."

"And what would it be?" Lucy asked cheerfully.

"I have decided to be a little crazy and go half cinnamon, half peach.

"Oooh…one of my favorite combinations! Miss Miley here was just telling me what she wanted. Double, double chocolate, right honey?"

I smiled as the vague memory of many, many years ago popped into my mind, "Yeah, double, double chocolate sounds perfect."

"Alrighty! Let me scoop these out for you guys." She walked back behind the counter and busied herself with scooping the gelato.

I turned to Nate, "You have to at least let me pay for dessert."

"No way," he laughed, "This is all on me."

"Are you sure? Because I have the money."

He reached down and squeezed my hand, "I know you do, but I want to do this for you."

I smiled, "Okay…but one of these days I'm going to pay for something."

Nate arched one of his eyebrows, "One of these days? Are you implying that you want to continue seeing me?"

"I think that is exactly what I am implying."

"Here you go, darlings. I gave you extra large scoops," Aunt Lucy smiled as she passed us the gelato. Nate handed her a twenty-dollar bill and told her to keep the change. When she tried to refuse, he explained that it was the least he could do after her amazing hospitality.

"Thank you Aunt Lucy," I said with a smile, and she knew that thank you was meant for more than one thing.

"Anytime dear. If you ever need me, you know where you can find me."

We walked out the door and the little bell dinged again (I smiled…again).

"So now that we can finally relax, what was up with those people at dinner? Nick and Selena I think you said their names were."

"Right…them," I laughed, while eating my delicious gelato.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me anything. I'm just guessing that the Nick guy was an ex-boyfriend."

"And what made you guess that?"

"He looked like he was about to kill me with his death glare that he sent my way every couple of minutes."

I giggled, "Sorry about that. My history with Nick is…complicated."

"I'm intrigued," he smiled, nudging me.

"Nick and I dated for a long time, then we broke up, then he started dating one of my friends and that didn't necessarily go over very well with me. There was bitterness and song wars and it was just…bad. Then we became friends again and we almost starting dating, but I was too afraid of getting hurt by him, so I dated my co-star for a little while. Then we reconnected after I broke up with my boyfriend, but then I left the country to pursue a job. Now I'm back, he's dating the same 'friend' of mine from a while ago, and she is threatened by me. The end."

"Wow," was all I got in response.

"Did you understand any of that?" I asked.

"Surprisingly I understood every word."

"I'm glad. Not many people can keep up with my rambling. You must be special."

He smiled but didn't say anything more on the subject, "So do you like your gelato?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, "It's amazing."

"Have you ever been there before?"

I bit my lip. What do I tell him? Yes, there is a very good possibility that I went there with my ex-boyfriend who I was totally in love with many years ago, but I don't remember it for some reason.

Because that would go over _so _well.

"Um…maybe. She seemed to recognize me but truthfully, I really don't remember."

"Yeah. I was going to say that Aunt Lucy really seemed to know you from somewhere."

"Like I said, there is definitely a possibility," I laughed. "So, tell me something about you Nate. I feel like you owe me something since I've basically spilled my guts to you."

He chuckled, "Alright. Well what do you want to know?"

I thought for a second. "What is your family like?"

"My family, huh? Are you sure that you want to hear about them?"

I giggled, "Yes! Come on, spill."

"You're in for it," he said playfully, nudging my arm, "My mom is a fourth grade teacher and she loves it. My dad is a lawyer which is the reason why I want to become one. I have an older sister, Brooke, and a younger sister, Hanna. And that's about it."

"There has to be more. What are your sisters studying to be?"

"Brooke is going to med school and stuff. But I'm not sure what she wants her specialty to be. Hanna…well Hanna is all over the place. She just graduated high school a couple months ago and now she's going to UCLA in the fall." He laughed, "Brooke was always the smart, quiet one, while Hanna and I had some fun in school. She hasn't quite figured out what she wants to be yet."

"She sounds like me," I said, "She's all over the place."

"Yeah but you figured it out eventually, right?"

"In a way, yes. Since I've been back though, it's been all fogged up again."

"You'll get back on track again. You are _the_ Miley after all."

I laughed, "_The _Miley? What's the supposed to mean?"

"It means that my two sisters were so obsessed with you that they gave us the play-by-play of your life every night at dinner. From the stories I've heard, you're a very strong person."

I blushed. It felt nice to have someone other than my friends and avid fans say something like that. "Thank you."

He just smiled and looked into at his empty cup of gelato. "It's all gone."

"So is mine…" I said, disappointed. We both knew what that meant. The date was almost over. "It's getting late anyway. Remember, we've got a lot of time to get to know each other more."

"That we do." He placed his hand on the small of my back (a gesture that made me smile), and led me over to where the car was parked. We drove back to my house where I knew Demi was eagerly waiting for me.

He slowly pulled up my driveway, and walked me up to the front door.

"So I had a whole lot of fun tonight, minus the death glares from your ex of course."

"Sorry about that…but other than that, I'm glad you had a good time. I did too."

We stood awkwardly on the front porch, both of us wondering what we would do next. Kissing seemed too forward and doing nothing didn't seem right. Finally we settled for a quick hug.

"I'll call you," he whispered in my ear.

I smiled. This relationship could be good. I could already feel it.

"Okay," I whispered back.

**~xoxo~**

**What did you think? I hope that my little Niley tidbits helped to make up for the Miley/Nate in the story. And I had fun writing the Selena parts. xD Again, I like her she just makes a really good jealous girlfriend in my story.**

**So…favorite part? Favorite character? Predictions?**

**Oh, so I have this entire story planned out. It's going to be thirty chapters. And it's all on a timeline too. So if you're wondering, the story starts somewhere in August and ends in the middle of December. :D**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	10. Chapter 10

Did you guys not like the last chapter? I only got a few reviews…oh well. It's not the end of the world. Thanks to those who did review. It means a lot to me. :)

**Disclaimer: I own the plot.**

_**~xoxo~**_

No. I wasn't going to go see her. She had better things to do than hang out with her ex-boyfriend.

_Yeah, but you two haven't seen each other in two weeks. She might miss you._

Or she doesn't miss me.

_But maybe she does._

No, she actually has a life. She has a new boyfriend, a best friend, and an entire life that she is trying to get back in order. There is no way that she misses me. Or even wants to see me for that matter.

_You never know._

Will you just shut up?

_Hey, I'm just a voice inside of your head._

I groaned. I was really starting to think that I was going crazy. This had actually been happening a lot lately, the whole conversation-in-my-head thing. I think that I should be worried.

I decided that it wouldn't hurt to give Miley a quick call just to check in. We were friends and that is what friends did. I started to dial her cell, but then I hesitated. Maybe I was being too forward. I mean she might find it a little strange if I just call her out of the blue and ask how she's been.

So instead I decided to call their house. I mean, I could come up with some excuse and ask for Demi. Then I could casually bring up Miley and go from there. Yes, that was a very good plan.

I quickly dialed their number and hoped that someone would pick up.

"Hello?" someone finally said on the other line.

"Hey Demi, it's Nick."

"Hello there Nick. To what do I owe this call? You usually just stop by."

"Um…yeah. I just wanted to check in. You know, just see how you're doing."

She hesitated for a moment, "Miley's not here."

"Huh?" I asked innocently.

"Come on Nick. You aren't just going to call here wanting to chat. You wanted to check up on Miley."

"I…uh…well, you know…"

She laughed, "That's what I thought. Well Miles is out with Nate, her _boyfriend_. She won't be back until later."

"But it's the middle of the day," I said confused.

"Yes, they went out for lunch and then they were going for a walk on the beach."

"Oh…" I said disappointed.

Demi paused, "That's it. I'm coming over."

"What?" I exclaimed startled.

"I'm coming over. I'll be there in five minutes."

Then she hung up. She hung up on me.

What the heck just happened? I called to talk to Miley and somehow Demi ended up inviting herself over.

I was so dead.

Once Demi came over she would want to get into some huge conversation with me about Miley and all my feelings for her. Then she would analyze every single word I said and then ball it up and tell me her thoughts on it. Finally, I would have to sit through her analytical conclusion about our relationship and all in all, it would be draining. And I really wasn't in the mood for this, but there was no stopping Demi once she got an idea in her head.

Five minutes later (yes, exactly five minutes later) I heard a knock at the door. I sighed and made my way slowly to the front door. I took a deep breath and opened it.

"Hey Dem-," I said, but I was cut off by her breezing through the door, ignoring the formalities that were usually exchanged when one person greeted another, "Or come right in…"

She glanced around the house for a minute, weaving in and out of rooms before finally reaching the kitchen. She looked around there for a couple extra seconds before turning to me. "So your house is clean as usual and there are no empty liquor bottles around, so you're not moping. And all your guitars, except for the one you keep in the living room, are tucked safely away in your music room."

"What's the point of all this Demi?"

"The point of it is that at least you're still functioning and not moping around like a lost puppy."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying that I half expected to be a complete mess. I'm glad that I was wrong though. It's less of a mess that I have to clean up." She walked over to the couch and patted the seat next to her, "Let's talk."

I groaned, this was going to be a long day.

"Listen Nick, Miley is my best friend and I don't want to see her hurt. She finally getting her life back in order and I don't need you to screw that up."

"So she's doing okay? I haven't seen her since that night, her date with that guy."

Demi smiled, "Yeah. She's doing good. She has been doing a lot of interviews, so those have kept her busy. Everyone in the world wants to know what she's been up to the last three years. She's also been spending a lot of time with her family and hanging out with Nate and stuff."

"Oh…so she's happy with this Nate guy?"

"It seems like it. She is smiling a lot more."

"Good…good."

"So, how's your love life? Last time I heard Selena wasn't all too happy that your ex-girlfriend was back in town."

"Yeah well, she is just a little insecure. She doesn't have anything to worry about though. I don't get why she is so worried about it though, she is the one who is my girlfriend. It's just, she freaks out whenever I mention Miley and she has been keeping me close, very close, to her over the past couple of weeks. I don't get why she's being like this. She has always been a little clingy when it comes to our relationship, but she has brought it up to a new level."

"Nick…I would do the exact same thing if I was put in her position. Just because we're not close anymore doesn't mean that I don't understand what she is feeling. I would be insecure and scared too. Back when you two first started dating, way back when the two of us were still best friends, she always knew that you never fully gave your heart to her."

"What-," I tried cutting in, but Demi just continued talking as if I never said a word.

"So she was always worried that you would suddenly decide that you didn't want her anymore. And I think she still feels that occasionally, but with Miley being back it's like those feelings have been magnified and that's why you're finally seeing them now."

"But she doesn't have anything to be worried about!"

"Well then you have to remind her of that over and over again because I can promise you that she's feeling beyond insecure right now."

"Can we just stop talking about all this, please? I'm not in the mood."

Demi sighed, "Well then when will you be in the mood?"

"I don't know. Okay? I just…you must have something else that you can bug me about that doesn't have anything to do with Miley or Selena."

I pleaded with her and I watched as she finally gave in. "Fine. We can talk about my wedding, is that better?"

I smiled, "Surprisingly, yes it is."

"Okay so Joe already told you about being best man, right?"

"Yeah, he did."

"You better not mess it up and make me wish that Kevin had won that coin toss."

I chuckled, "I promise that I won't mess it up Demi. You know how happy I am that you are marrying Joe."

"And you do know who the maid of honor is right? So you two are going to have to work together, maybe spend days _alone_ together planning all the things that the best man and the maid of honor have to plan," she smiled, "That means long nights, dinners, lunches together. I wonder how you two will cope with that."

"Demi…" I said, warning lacing my tone, "I told you I didn't want to talk about anything concerning Miley and you said that we wouldn't."

"Yeah well I changed my mind. Now, the way I see it you have two choices."

"And those are?"

"One, you and Miley agree to stay just friends and you go on with your life. Or two, you drop everything and get back together. It's that simple."

"You call that simple?" I exclaimed. "It is like you're asking me to decide between singing and songwriting. Writing songs is…like my therapy. It's fun and natural and I'm able to really live in those moments. But then there is singing which comes easy for me, you know? When I'm on stage, I'm comfortable because I know I'll be fine."

Demi smiled softly at me, "Well then the real question is, which one can you live without?"

I sighed and leaned back into the couch. At this moment, I truly did not know the answer to that question. I knew that it would eventually come to me, well at least I hoped it would. But until then I would have to resort to the battles inside my head.

"So I'm pregnant."

As soon as her words were processed in my brain I exclaimed, "What?"

She laughed, "Just kidding!"

"Why would you say something like that?"

"I had to do something to pull you out of that trance that you were in."

I glared at her, "Well you almost gave me a heart attack. My god Demi, the next time that you do that I will kill you."

This, of course, just made her laugh even harder. She was at the point where she was doubled over and gasping for air. "You would kill _me_? I'd love to see you try honey."

I shoved her, "Shut up."

Her eyes went wide, "You did not just shove me."

"I believe I did. What are you going to do about it?"

Before I knew it, she had grabbed a pillow and was smacking me with it.

"Okay, okay! I surrender. You win, Demi. You win."

She dropped the pillow and leaned back onto the couch, "I have no idea how either girl puts up with you."

"I wonder the same thing."

Demi sighed and glanced at her watch, "Crap. I have to go. I'm meeting Joe because we're going to register everything for the wedding."

"Okay. As much as I was dreading you coming over, thank you. You cleared my head a little bit."

"You're welcome." She leaned over to me and gave me a hug, "You're going to figure it all out and eventually live happily ever after."

She got up and walked to the door, but before she left she turned to me, "Nick, you know you're one of my closest friends and I love you, right?"

"Yeah…"

"But Miley is my _best _friend and she comes first. So if you hurt her, I will kick your ass and not feel one ounce of regret about it because I will protect that girl until the day I die."

I nodded, "I know."

"Good. Now she'll be home in about an hour. Give her a call, I know she misses talking to you." After that she gave me one last smile and was out the door.

I groaned and buried my face in the couch pillows. Why was life so hard?

Something was ringing. I think it was my phone. I slowly lifted my head from the couch and reached around blindly for my cell phone.

"Hello?" I grumbled into the phone, still slightly groggy.

"Hey Nick! Wait…did I wake you up?" Miley said in that cute, bubbly voice of hers.

_Focus Nick._

"What? Oh no, I was…awake," I said quickly, rubbing my eyes.

She was obviously unconvinced but she laughed anyway, "Well if I did, I am very sorry."

"There is no need to be sorry. What's up?"

"I just haven't talked to you in a while…how are you?"

"Good. I've just been hanging out. But what about you? Demi tells me you've been quite busy."

"Yeah…I have to give the world what it wants and apparently that is an explanation. But thankfully they've been kind and understanding about my reasons for leaving."

"That's good…I knew that they would still love you."

She laughed, "It was never about that; I just didn't want to disappoint them. I obviously wasn't going to feel bad about leaving, but at the same time I don't want any of my fans disappointed in me."

"Well they aren't. If anything you probably gained even more of their respect because you left."

"You think?"

"Definitely." I smiled. I could see that even though she had grown up and changed, you could still see a glimpse of that teenager who needed someone to tell her that everything was okay. Even if it wasn't, she needed to be told that it was because she could work with that and thrive in it.

I was just glad that I was the one telling her it was all okay.

We talked for an entire hour and a half. We kept the conversation light; it was easy and fun. I knew that having a conversation over the phone could be so fulfilling.

She had just gotten done with telling me a story about a night that she went out clubbing in London. I was cracking up by the time she was done. Suddenly I heard my phone beep, signaling that I had another call.

"Miles can you hold on for a second?"

"Of course. I'll try to come up with even better stories."

"I can't wait!" I laughed, "I'll be right back."

I clicked over to the other call, "Hello?"

"Hey Nick…it's Selena."

"Oh hey honey."

"So I ordered a pizza and I know that I can't eat it all on my own. Can I maybe come over and we could watch a movie or something?"

So this was the beginning. Right here. I knew that if I said yes to her that meant the end of my conversation with Miley and who knew when we would be able to talk like this again.

"Nick?"

_Just pick Nick. It's easy. Miley or Selena._

"Uh…can you give me just a second?"

"Sure…" she said quietly.

I switched back to Miley, "Hey."

"There you are!" she laughed.

I took a deep breath. "Listen Miles…I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Oh. Um, no it's fine! I had to go anyway. When Joe and Demi get back they're going to be hungry so I might as well make dinner."

"I am sorry. I've had more fun than I've had in a long time."

She sighed, "Me too. But we've both got lives, Nick. And those lives need our attention."

"Yeah."

"So we'll talk later? Maybe this time we won't go for as long without talking to one another."

"You can count on it." I smiled. Damn, I really didn't want to go.

"Bye Nick."

"Bye Miles."

With one last sigh I clicked back over to Selena. "Sel?"

"Hi."

"So what movie do you want to watch?"

_**~xoxo~**_

**Review?**

**And if it's bad, tell me. I can take it. :D**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am so sorry that this took so long to upload. I've been on two vacations since the beginning of July and I'm going on another one starting Wednesday. Also, I'm sorry if the story seems to be going slow. There will be some drama (a little bit) coming up, so hopefully that will make up for the lack of drama so far. Remember, I've got this entire story planned out so either you like the way I write it or you don't. :P**

**Oh, and thank you so much for all the reviews. I'm very glad that you guys seem to like this story. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**_~xoxo~_**

"Yes mom, I promise to come see you again."

"Will you come over tomorrow?"

"Mom," I laughed into the phone. "I've come to visit you so many times since I've been back. I would think that you would be sick of me by now."

"Honey, I could never get sick of you. You were gone for three years and I barely got to see you during that time. With Braison and Noah being homeschooled and Trace starting off his new band, I saw you what…three times?"

"I'm sure it was more times than that," I continued. I placed the receiver in the crook of my neck and started to fold the piles of laundry that had piled up over the course of the last few weeks.

My mom sighed, "Please sweetie? I know your dad wants to see you again too. And your sister and brother do as well."

"Okay, okay," I finally agreed. "But I do want you to remember that I'm at least here until December for the wedding. After that I'm not sure, but it's only the beginning of September now. We've got lots of time to spend together mom."

"I know, but I just miss you. You're my baby and then you left your mommy for three years and now you're back and I don't ever want you to leave again."

"Mom, you're getting all sentimental and truthfully, it's creeping me out."

"Fine. I'll see you here tomorrow, right?"

I giggled, "I can practically see you're puppy dog eyes from here."

"I'm taking that as a yes. I love you babe. See you tomorrow."

"Bye mom." I laughed as I hung up and put the phone down next to the dryer. I loved how close my mom and I were. I knew that if I ever needed her, needed someone to talk to or to just vent to, she would be there.

She was right though, we hadn't seen a lot of each other over the years. Sure, we talked on the phone constantly and she visited whenever she could, along with the rest of my family, but I grew up and moved on with my own life. But she was still my mom and she always would be.

I heard the front door slam shut and the next thing I knew, Demi's voice rang out, "Sorry! The window was open and that's why the door slammed."

"Demi! Don't blame the window!" I called out, laughing.

"The window is an inanimate object. It does not have feelings which means that I can blame it if I want to blame it." She walked into the laundry room and hopped up on the counter. "You don't have to do the laundry alone. I can help you know."

"I know," I smiled. "But I like doing it."

"You're weird."

"Thank you. I'm very proud of that fact."

"I'm really hungry," Demi said randomly. "Can we go out and get something?"

I threw the remaining clothes back into the dryer. "Why not? Let's go to Subway. Wait, don't we need to go look at flowers for the wedding or did you want to do that with Joe?"

She laughed, "Are you kidding me? With Joe? He would spend the entire time complaining about how blue flowers look ridiculous and that some flowers smell bad. I would end up killing him."

"Yeah. I can definitely see that happening. Okay, let me go change and then we'll go. We'll hit Subway and then there's a huge flower shop right around the corner that we can check out."

"Alright. I'm going to call Joe really quick. Who knows? He may actually have a preference on what flowers we get."

I nodded and started walking to my room, but then I turned around after a thought came to my mind. "Hey Dems?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't give Joe too much control over the flowers. I don't want you carrying like…sunflowers down the aisle. Not that sunflowers aren't pretty, but you know what I mean."

She hesitated. "Well…maybe I should just pick out the flowers with you. It's not like Joe is going to care anyway." Demi laughed, "Yeah. I'm not going to trust him with any decisions."

"Good idea. Okay, I'll be right back." I ran into my room and threw on something more presentable than sweatpants. I quickly put on some light make up. I slid my sunglasses onto my head, and grabbed my purse.

"Miley hurry up! I'm hungry!"

I walked back out into the living room. "Demi, chill. I'm here so now let's go."

While we were in the car, Demi's phone began to ring. She laughed, "It's Joe. If he finds out we're picking out flowers then he's going to think that h has to get involved and all that. I don't want sunflowers Miley."

I rolled my eyes. "The things I do for you. Hand me the phone."

She eagerly handed it over and I placed it up to my ear. "Hey Joe!"

"Miles? Why are you answering Demi's phone?"

"Well you know that I'm all for breaking the law so since I'm driving I thought, 'Hey, it's illegal to talk on your cell phone and drive at the same time. I want to do it!'"

He chuckled, "Nice. So what are you two up to?"

"You know…just stuff," I said vaguely.

"Wait, wedding stuff? I want to be apart of it!"

"Really Joe? You want to spend hours upon hours going over decisions that won't even really affect you. Do you really care what flowers the two of you are going to have?"

He paused, "Well…I mean, that doesn't really sound appealing."

"And to top it all off, we're going to run to the drugstore to pick up…lady products. I know! If you come with us, you can run in and get the stuff for us!"

"Uh…you know what? I'm actually busy today. Why don't you girls go have fun on your own today."

I smiled, "That's what I thought. Come by at seven tonight, We'll pick up dinner and then you and Demi can hang out."

"Hang out? What are we, thirteen?"

"Goodbye Joe," I giggled and then I handed the phone back to Demi. "I don't think he'll bother you about the flowers now."

Demi took the phone and said, "You my dear, are amazing."

"I know, I know."

Subway was good and then we made our way to the flower shop. It was a really big place and it was entirely filled with flowers. All different ones too. There were the small daisies and the large carnations. I just smiled because of all the sweet smells of the different kinds of flowers.

"Look at this place," I breathed. "I could live here."

Demi looked around the store. "I wonder if they have insect problems. Oh my gosh…do you think that there are bees in here? I hate bees."

I laughed, "Yes Demi, I'm sure that there are bees in here. But since you're not a flower, I don't think that you'll have a problem."

"I guess…oh! Look at those over there! They're really pretty." We walked over to where the larger flowers were. Demi busied herself by picking up and smelling all the different varieties. But I couldn't help but notice that she glanced my way every couple of minutes as if she wanted to say something.

Finally I said, "What Dem?"

She sighed, "Do you have any feelings for Nick?"

"Demi, not now."

"Miley, I see the way that you look at him and I just want the two of you to be happy. I'm not going to force the two of you into a relationship or anything but what if you spend your whole life wondering what could have happened between the two of you?"

This conversation was already giving me a headache and it had just started. "I admit, what he and I had or have together isn't ever going to be the same with anyone else but that doesn't change anything. He has a serious girlfriend who he loves and I now have a boyfriend. And that's just the way it is."

"But if you two just tried to be together-,"

"Demi! You're not listening to me." I looked her right in the eye and tried my very best not to break down crying in front of her. "I left, okay? Three years ago he asked me if I would just give the two of us a try but instead, I left. And I don't regret it, but it doesn't mean that I don't think about what would have happened if I had just stayed."

"Why didn't you tell me this? I knew the two of you had some serious sexual tension going on, but you never told me that he wanted to get back together with you."

"I didn't tell you because it doesn't matter!" I yelled. "It doesn't matter because I made a decision, one that I don't regret. But it doesn't change the fact that I made a decision. I can't take it back and I'm forced to live with it so I'd rather not talk about it!"

I took a deep breath and turned back to the flowers. I noticed that several of the other patrons of the store had turned to stare at us. I just had a fight with my best friend. Or…not a fight, but me yelling at her. We rarely fought and when we did it was bad and I hated it.

"Honey…" she sighed. Demi hesitated before finally wrapping her arms around me. I tried to pull away at first but then I just leaned in and let her comfort me. Even though I didn't deserve it. I had just _yelled_ at her.

I pulled away and wiped the tears from my eyes. "Let's just go back to picking out flowers," I sniffled.

It surprised me how well Demi was able to drop the subject of Nick and I. She bounced through every other subject known to man without even coming close to that one. Two hours later, she yelled at me to come over.

"Yeah Dem?" I said walking over.

"These…are perfect," she said quietly. "I want these."

They were really beautiful. They were just simple, white lillys. I smiled and then looked at the case next to them. Inside were small, blue flowers. They would go perfect with the lillys.

"Look, don't you like these too? They would match your whole color scheme."

"I have absolutely no idea what color scheme means, but okay. I do think that they would look really good together."

"Well do you want to look around some more?"

She shook her head. "Nope. These two are what I want. Let's buy them."

Demi made her way towards the counter and she started to pull out her wallet. "Hi, I'd like to place an order for flowers for a wedding."

I left her to herself while I continued to look around the shop. I felt my phone vibrate, so I pulled it out of my pocket.

_New Text Message_

I clicked on it and it opened up.

_How is your day going gorgeous? –Nate_

I smiled and typed back: 'It's going good. I'm just helping Demi pick out flowers for the wedding. How's your day?'

My phone vibrated again a couple minutes later.

_That sounds like fun. Flower shops are actually fun to hang out in. Haha. –Nate_

'I sense sarcasm. :P And you never answered my question from before.'

_Right. My day was pretty good, I had lunch with my sister. –Nate_

'Which one?'

_Hanna. She apparently has a boyfriend now. –Nate_

'Oooh…intrigue.'

_Haha. I know. –Nate_

I went to answer back, but my phone ringing stopped me. "Hello?" I said.

"Miley!" two people screamed while laughing on the other line.

"Um…yes?"

"You don't recognize our voices? How rude! Darling, it's Alexa!"

"And Kristen!" the other voice said.

My mouth just dropped open. "Guys! Oh my gosh! Wait, isn't it like super late across the pond?"

"It's like only eleven. We're still living in the same day chicky."

"Okay, okay. So what did I do to receive a call from such fabulous girls as you two?"

"Well," Alexa began, "We were thinking."

"Uh oh."

"Shut up!" she laughed. "We were just thinking that maybe we would come visit you soon. We both have like a zillion vacation days saved up and we haven't seen you in a month and a half. It would be nice."

"Yes, yes, yes! You guys have to come out! How long would you stay?"

This time Kristen spoke into the phone, "We were thinking two weeks. Is that okay?"

"That is perfect! I can't wait!"

"Okay, should we book a hotel room or can you make room at your house for us?"

"There is no way in hell you're staying at some hotel room. Trust me, I've got plenty of room. And I'm sure it will be fine with Demi."

"Demi?"

"My best friend slash roommate."

"Oh okay. So we'll make all the plans and then call you. Are you sure it's okay if we come visit?"

"Kristen, Alexa, I haven't seen you two in forever. If you didn't come visit, I'd fly all the way to London and whoop your butts."

"It's arse Miles, speak British."

I laughed, "Whatever you say."

Kristen sighed, "I have to say, I half expected you to be back here by now, yet you're still in the States."

I shrugged, "What can I say? I'm an American."

"We have to go Miles. I'll call you later with all the details, okay?" Alexa said. "I miss talking to the both of you like this. You've got to love speakerphone."

I sighed, "I miss you guys too. But I'll let you both go. Before you two hang up though, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah?"

"I have a boyfriend."

They both screamed so loud that I thought I was going to be deaf.

"What? Since when? Oh my god!"

"I'll tell you all the details later, you guys have to go, remember?"

They both groaned, "Fine. We do have to go. But you better not skimp on the details later missy."

I laughed, "Bye guys. Call me later!"

"Bye Miley! Love you!" both Kristen and Alexa said.

"Love you too!" I pulled the phone away from my ear and saw Demi finally walk over to me.

"Who were you on the phone with?"

"Kristen and Alexa," I smiled.

"Oh that's great! What did you guys talk about?"

"They're coming to visit for two weeks!" My face fell. "Oh shit. They're coming to visit."

"And that's a bad thing…why?" she asked confused.

"Because I haven't told them anything about my life! They don't know about the famous Miley or my life or my relationships. What are they going to do when they find out I haven't told them anything?"

Demi shrugged, "They'll ask for your autograph?"

I giggled and shoved her, "I'm serious. How am I supposed to explain any of this to them? Oh god, I am so dead."

She linked her arm through mine and we began to walk to my car. "Well I for one am very excited to meet your two friends and I am sure that they'll be completely understanding about your life."

I sighed, "I hope so…"

_**~xoxo~**_

**Oh look, a plot twist. How intriguing. :P**

**Like I said, I'm heading to New York and Washington D.C. for a week so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write. Hopefully I'll have a little bit though.**

**Review?**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	12. Chapter 12

**See, I can get a chapter out fast-ish. :P Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**_~xoxo~_**

My life had been strangely uneventful for the last few days. I mainly focused my attention on Selena, because after my talk with Demi I figured that I should be spending most of my time with her. I also tried my best to help out with the wedding. It was already the middle of September, which meant that the wedding was only a couple days away.

But now Selena was in Chicago for the week for some talk show interview or something. She was excited because this was her first television appearance in a while. I was going to travel with her, but I changed my mind at the last minute; deciding that staying home would give me some time to breathe.

I heard my phone ring and I pulled it from my pocket and answered, "Hello?"

"Hey baby! It's me."

"Oh, hey Sel. What's up?"

"I just wanted to call and check in. So how are you?" she asked.

"Um…good. I'm just hanging out at home watching a game. Nothing exciting."

"Well I was wondering if it would be okay if I stayed in Chicago for a couple more days? Jane actually flew out with me and we would like to become tourists for a few days. But if you need me to come home, then I will."

My eyes widened. "No, stay! I want you to be able to have some fun. I won't be doing much anyway; I'll probably just help Demi and Joe out with wedding stuff."

"Right…wedding stuff," she said quietly. "That means Miley will probably be there too right?"

"Probably. She is the maid of honor."

Selena sighed, "I don't mean to come off sounding jealous, but you understand where I'm coming from, right? Not only is she _Miley_, that in itself makes me nervous, but she has the one role that I always wanted."

"And what role is that?"

"What do you think Nick? Demi's maid of honor. It's just that even though we haven't been close at all for a couple years, we were at one point. And we dreamed of our wedding days, you know?"

"Yeah…" I said quietly. "I know."

"Whatever. I sound ridiculous."

"No, you don't sound ridiculous Sel. I just need you to trust me, okay? Please, just trust me."

"I do trust you Nick. It's the past that I don't trust. And I want to be all happy-go-lucky about this whole thing; I want to believe that everything is going to stay that same as it has been for the last couple of years, but I know that's wishful thinking. Everything is going to change now, isn't it?"

I didn't say anything for a minute but then I sighed, "I don't know. I think it's already changing."

"And that's what I'm afraid of!" she exclaimed. "Face it, things are going to be different now and I don't know if we can handle that."

"We can," I said confidently. "Maybe after all this wedding stuff is over we can go on a vacation or something, just the two of us."

"I'd like that." I could practically see her smiling through the phone.

"But it would have to be after Christmas. My family would never forgive me if I wasn't there," I chuckled. Then I heard the doorbell ring. I slowly got up from the couch to answer it.

Selena giggled, "Okay. After Christmas it is."

When I opened the door I was surprised to see Miley smiling on the other side. I quickly brought my finger up to my mouth to signal her to be quiet. Luckily she understood my signal and followed me when I motioned her inside.

"Hey honey, I have to go. I have some um…calls to make. I just remembered."

"Okay! I'll call you before I go to bed so I can say goodnight," she said happily.

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye!"

I hung up the phone and then remembered Miley. I turned and found her smiling at me. "The two of you are really cute together."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "I seem to remember that you once told me I was an idiot for dating her; that the two of us were way too alike to have any kind of romantic relationship and we were two polite to each other. Oh, and that I was on my way to an insane asylum."

She scoffed, "Oh please. I doubt that I was that harsh."

"Oh you were. I distinctly remember it. It was the equivalent of the mom throwing a frying pan at the dad's head in The Parent Trap. But, you know, without the physical blow."

"I knew you loved that movie! You tried to deny it, but I knew you loved it."

"You're changing the subject," I said pointedly.

"No. I'm skillfully avoiding telling the truth and admitting that you're right," she answered slyly.

I laughed, "So what are you doing here?"

"Everyone is busy so I decided to come and check up on you. Let's go do something."

"Oh I see how it is. I'm your last resort."

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. So do you want to go do something? Oh I know! Let's go to the beach."

"Uh, no."

"Uh, yes."

"Miley, no. Plus, you don't have your bathing suit."

"Well you see Nicholas, there's this new invention called a car and it can take you places really fast. So I can leave here and be back very quickly in my bathing suit."

"Miley…" I said, but I already knew that I would agree to do whatever she wanted. Afterall, her in a bikini was definitely appealing.

There I go again. I really need to stop thinking about her in that way. No wonder Selena is getting worried.

"Okay, I'll be back," she smiled. "I expect you to be ready when I get back."

Then she flew out the door like a tornado leaving me shocked behind her. I groaned and made my way to my closet to get changed. I really wasn't a beach person. I mean, I didn't mind it and it was definitely beautiful, but it was always so crowded and you always came home with sand everywhere.

And I mean everywhere.

Literally ten minutes later, I heard my phone ring. I grabbed it from the couch. "This is Nick."

"No, duh. I called your phone so obviously it's you."

"Hello to you too Miley."

"Anyway, I'm all ready, I just have to grab a towel and my beach bag. Do you need a towel or anything?" she asked.

"Um, sure. A towel would be good. Do you have sunscreen?"

"Yeah, I do. See! You're totally excited for the beach. Don't deny it."

"Whatever you say Miles. I have to finish getting dressed," I chuckled.

"You're not dressed yet? Wow, you're slow."

"Goodbye."

"Bye!" she chirped. "I'll be there in ten minutes. Be ready!"

Then she hung up. This really sucked. All I planned on doing today was staying at home and hanging out and now I was forced to go out. Oh crap. Selena was going to find out and then I would have to deal with that. I could always just tell Miley that I couldn't go; I could give her some bullshit reason that she would see right through but let me off the hook anyway…

But then she would be mad at me and give me the silent treatment. Then, things would be tense between us, Demi and Joe's wedding would be ruined, and then they would all hate me. They wouldn't hate her though, because she's Miley. And because the last time things blew up between us, they all tried to hate her and it kind of backfired.

I didn't even notice that I zoned out until I heard her knocking at the door. "Nick! Are you ready?" she yelled through the door.

"Just a minute!" I could hear her sigh behind the door. I ran around and quickly finished getting ready (because it really only took me a minute) and then I opened up my front door to see an impatient Miley.

"Are you ready yet? I want to get down there before the sun goes down," she smiled playfully.

"Yes. Come on miss high-maitenence," I said following her to her car.

Miley gasped, "You did not just call me high-maitenence! You know, I don't think I want to go to the beach with you anymore."

I shrugged and pretended to walk back to the house, "Fine with me."

I heard her groan, "Just kidding. I don't want to go to the beach alone. Get in the car, jerk."

I smirked as I walked back to the car. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me."

"Shut up. You're my last resort, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. How long is the drive to the beach?"

She looked at me weirdly, "How can you not know how far away the beach is? It's like…five minutes from your house. You must go there sometimes."

"Well I don't really have the time to go." I looked out at the passing houses and watched as the beach came closer and closer. She was right, it was only five minutes away.

"I'm sure you'll love it if you just give it a chance. I think that you'll like the ocean, just watch out for sharks. They bite."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Sharks? There is no way I'm stepping into that water."

Miley giggled as she found a parking spot. "It was a joke. And if there is a shark in the water, the lifeguards will warn us. Or they won't. Then we get eaten."

"Sounds fun."

"You know, you're raining on my parade. I'd like you to stop."

"It's too hot outside and look how crowded it is! We're going to get recognized!"

She groaned and turned to glare at me. "We're not seventeen, Nick. We are friends and we're allowed to hang out. If you can't realize that, or if you don't want to, then we can go home. I don't care. But I'm tired of all these bullshit excuses."

"Miley-,"

"Do you want to hang out with me?" she asked point-blank.

"Well yeah. Of course."

"Then we'll hang out. In public because that is what normal people do. So come on, I can practically hear the waves calling your name."

Then her hand latched onto my arm and she dragged me through the mass of people. I could feel many people turn and stare. Afterall, it wasn't every day that you saw two famous people (one who had been gone for several years), walking to the beach.

"Is this spot good?" Miley asked, hovering over a patch of sand that was pretty close to the water.

I shrugged, "Seems fine to me."

"Okay." She dropped all our stuff down and began to lay out her towel on the sand. I tried to copy what she did, but for the life of me I couldn't get my towel straight. I finally realized that Miley was giggling at my failed attempts.

I gave her a weak smile and tentatively handed her my towel. She rolled her eyes, but she took it anyway and laid it out for me.

"Thanks," I said happily while sitting down.

I thought I heard her mutter, _"Boys,"_ before sitting down herself, but I couldn't be sure.

"I have a question for you," she stated a couple of minutes later.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you tell Selena that 'you had some calls to make' when I showed up on your front doorstep?"

I sighed, "Well if I told her that you were here, then she would freak out and I guess I just didn't want to deal with that."

"You should've told her. Mostly because she is going to find out anyway. The paparazzi are probably going to be here any minute and take tons of pictures that will show we were together. You just shouldn't be hiding anything from her."

"I know I shouldn't. I just kind of panicked, you know?"

"I know. And it's fine to panic! But you should have called her back and told her your plans. In fact, you should call her right now."

"Uh…" I said hesitantly, "Maybe once we get home. I don't think calling her right now is the best thing to do."

She looked at me unsurely but shrugged, "It's your life on the line."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Does your boyfriend that know you're here? With me, I mean?"

To my surprise, she actually laughed, "Nate doesn't care about that kind of stuff. We haven't been dating long but he also understands that I can't spend every single minute with him. But if you really want to know, yes he does know I'm here with you. I called him right before I picked you up."

"Oh…well that's good. He seems like a really nice guy."

She raised her eyebrows, "Oh really? When you first met him he got the feeling that you didn't like him very much."

I feigned innocence. "I don't know why he got that idea. He seems nice."

"Uh huh…whatever you say. Nate is a good guy; in fact, he could be someone that I could see myself, you know, staying with in the long run."

I almost choked. Well actually, I kind of did choke but I think I covered it up well enough with a cough; although I couldn't tell whether she bought it or not. "Oh?" I finally squeaked out.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I don't know…it's just a feeling that I have. It obviously might not happen; I might not end up marrying him, but it's still a good thought."

"Yeah…a good thought," I said absentmindedly.

Miley looked at me curiously, "Have you ever thought about proposing to Selena?"

Automatically I said, "No."

"Never? Are you sure?"

"Trust me, I'm positive."

She was quiet for a minute, but then she spoke, "Have you ever thought about asking anyone else to marry you?"

"Yeah," I said easily.

"Seriously?" she asked surprised.

"Yep. Twice."

By this time she was completely stunned; to the point where she couldn't even really form any words. Finally she said, "Who?"

I just smiled softly, "Who do you think Miles?"

Now she was just staring at me while having even more trouble forming words. "But…but wh-when?"

"Let's see…the first time was when I was a scrawny fourteen year old and I had just met the most beautiful girl in the world and all I could think of was marrying her. By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, that girl was you."

She laughed nervously, "Yeah, I figured. When was the second time?"

I kept my gaze fixated on my hands that were in my lap. "Um…well it was a couple years ago. You had just broken up with Liam and…and I went to look at rings."

"You what?" she exclaimed. "B-but what? H-how…?"

"I don't know. I just figured that I'd just go and check things out. I ended up finding the perfect ring, and this is coming from a guy who doesn't really understand women's jewelry." I laughed, "Anyway, I saw it and I loved it and we were…moving along. I mean, we weren't exactly dating yet and you had rejected me, but I still had this feeling."

"Then what happened?" she asked. "I never saw this alleged ring."

I shrugged, "Joe called."

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Joe called to tell me that you…had left."

"Oh…" Miley said in understanding.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey…it's no big deal. You had to do what you thought was best to make you happy. I get that and I respect it."

"I'm glad," she smiled.

Desperately searching for a change in the subject, I noticed the water again. "Hey, want to go in the water? You can point out all those sharks that you were talking about."

She finally giggled, "Okay. But be careful, I heard that those sharks love hot, brown-eyed musicians."

"Well I think those hot, blue-eyed musicians would be in trouble too."

"Oh no, they are actually disgusted by blue-eyed people," Miley said waving off my comment.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to stick with you. Your blue eyes will scare them off."

She groaned dramatically, "Fine. I'll be your shield for the day."

"Well thank you madam." I held my arm out for her to grasp, "Shall we go?"

"Well thank you young sir." Miley linked her arm through mine and took off running towards the water, dragging me behind her.

It looks like I would always be tripping over my feet just to be with her.

**What did you think? Hopefully you guys liked it. :P**

**Review?**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	13. Chapter 13

"Can I please get it?" I pleaded with Nate.

"No way," he laughed. "Getting a dog isn't like going to get your hair done. It's a huge decision, one that you can't necessarily take back."

"Now that you mention it, it's actually a lot like getting your hair done. You're taking a risk because you don't know if it's going to turn out and you definitely can't take it back." I smiled triumphantly.

He just chuckled and gently pulled me away from the pet adoption fair that was going on in the park. I frowned but knew it was for the best; I'd probably end up going home with all the dogs there if I had stayed any longer.

Nate wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "You also may want to ask Demi before you come home with a puppy. It is her house too remember."

"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of my best friend, she really wants to meet you. Maybe we could all have dinner tonight, if that's okay with you."

"I'd love to. I get to finally meet the infamous Demi and Joe."

I rested my head on his shoulder, "If you want to talk technically, they're already famous. You know, like the whole singing and acting career they have going."

"How could I forget?" He paused and it seemed like he wanted to say something but nothing would come out.

"What?" I asked curiously.

Nate sighed, "Are you okay? You've been out of it the past couple days and now all of a sudden you want to get a dog…"

I shook my head, "It's nothing. Just a conversation I had with Nick, it kind of shook me up. I'm alright though." I shot him a smile and quickly changed the subject; I really didn't need him to ask me any questions.

"Did I tell you that my friends from Europe are coming to visit in a couple weeks?"

"Only about a thousand times," he smiled.

"Oh. Well I can't help it if I'm excited," I giggled.

"I never said it was a bad thing. I am excited to meet them though…but you've hyped them up so much, I just hope that they can live up to how you've described them."

"You'll love them. I must warn you though, they're clinically insane and boy-crazy so be careful. But I know that they'll love you, so that should make you doubly careful."

He raised his eyebrows, "You're definitely making them sound…colorful. But I'm a little scared to meet them."

"Don't be," I said when we finally reached my car. We had both arrived at the park alone because he had a class before and after our date. I reached up and kissed him softly on the lips. "Thanks for the date."

"It was my pleasure," Nate grinned. He opened the driver's door for me and I climbed into my car. "Drive safe."

"I always do," I replied, "Can you come over at six-thirty? Or is that too early?"

"No, it's fine. Should I bring anything?"

"Just your charming self," I smiled cheekily. I reached over and started up my car, "See you later boyfriend."

I leaned out of the window and gave him one last kiss. He laughed, "Since when have you called me 'boyfriend'?"

"Since today, keep up boyfriend." I gave him a wink. Slowly, I pulled out of my parking space and made my way back to my house. I heard my phone vibrate inside of my purse and I reached for it and opened it up to read the new text message:

_Just so you know, I like the nickname boyfriend. It's cute. :) –Nate_

I rolled my eyes, but laughed anyway. Sometimes that boy was too cheesy for his own good.

I walked into my house, throwing my purse on the kitchen table and taking my sunglasses off of my head; I heard voices coming from Demi's room so grabbing a granola bar, I walked down the hallway to find out who was home.

I approached her room and found that the door was wide open and there were a couple boxes covering sections of the floor. "What's going on here?"

Demi looked up and shot me a guilty look, "We're just packing, you know, since I'm moving in with Joe after the wedding…I didn't think that you would be home from your date yet."

"Dem, you don't need to hide that you're packing. I'm fine with it; sure, it sucks that you're leaving but I know that you're going to be happy. Plus, I'm sure that you'll love an extra pair of hands to help you out."

She smiled, "Okay…on the bright side, you'll have this entire place to yourself. You could do anything you want."

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed. "Now what do you need me to pack?"

"Well, we're starting with that stuff that I don't use on a regular basis first because I'm obviously not moving out for another two months so I can't pack the essentials. So pack everything on those two shelves and that corner of the closet." Demi gestured vaguely to the spots so I just started to pick up random stuff.

Joe walked into the room whistling. When he saw me his grin grew, "Miley!"

"Hey Joseph," I smiled.

"Now I've got my two best girls with me. Now we can party!"

I covered my face with my hands, "Oh god, Demi are you sure that you have to marry him? I need you to know that I can find a better guy for you in two seconds; just say the word.

"As much as I hate to say it, I love him."

"Hey! I resent that," he pouted.

I giggled and then I remembered the plans I had made for tonight. "Hey guys, do you have plans tonight?"

Demi looked to Joe, but he just shrugged. She looked back to me and shook her head. "Not that we know of. Why? Do you have something for us to do?"

"Well I invited Nate over for dinner. I thought it was time that he met you guys."

"Oh my god, yes! Yes, yes, yes! I've been waiting for this ever since you're first date. What time is he coming over?" Demi exclaimed.

"Six-thirty; what do you want to eat? I have to make a run to the store in a minute."

"Hey!" Joe said suddenly, "Weren't you going to help us pack all these boxes? You can't just leave now."

"Dude, I'm making you dinner tonight. Cut me some slack."

"Miles, just get whatever you want to make," Demi said, interrupting her fiancée's next sentence, "I'm sure Joe will eat anything and I'm not picky."

"Alright. I'll see you two in a bit." Before I walked out of the room, I turned back to face them. "Is there any way you guys could clean this place up before he gets here? It's kind of…messy."

Demi smiled, "I promise my room will be completely clean by the time Nate gets here."

"Thank you!" I replied happily. Then I grabbed the things I had just set down a couple minutes before and was out the door again.

**_~xoxo~_**

Four hours later I was busy in the kitchen making sure that everything was set to go. I had decided on parmesan chicken with salad and French bread. It was simple, but it was my favorite meal to make so therefore it would taste the best.

"Okay, my room is all done," Demi said, walking into the kitchen.

Joe, of course, went straight for the food. "If you touch one thing on this counter, you're dead," I warned.

"But it smells so good!"

"I have to say Miley, I still can't get over the fact that you cook now."

"You have to learn how to do a lot of things when you're on a budget. It's crazy how good of meals you can make with a littlest of ingredients."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. "Is that Nate?" Demi asked.

"If it is he's fifteen minutes early. Okay Dem, will you watch the chicken for me while I get the door? I'll just be a minute."

"Sure."

I pulled my apron over my head and walked to the front door. I opened it to see Nate on the other side.

"I know I'm early and that you hate that but I didn't want to be late," he said, all in one breath.

I giggled, "It's fine honey. Dinner is almost ready anyway, so come on in."

He handed me a bottle of wine. "I thought we could enjoy this."

"I told you not to bring anything!" I exclaimed, but I took it anyway with a smile on my face. "Thank you though."

I leaned up and kissed him, making sure that it lasted a little longer than the ones we had already shared today. "Now let's go. I've got people for you to finally meet."

I reached down for his hand and pulled him into the kitchen. "Demi, Joe, I'd like you to meet Nate."

Demi grinned broadly and walked over to the two of us. She automatically wrapped Nate up in a hug. "It's so great to meet you! I'm Demi."

"It's nice to meet you too," he replied, hugging her back.

Joe stepped forward and put his hand out, "I would hug you, but I think my fiancée already covered that. I'm Joe."

"Hey. Thank you so much for allowing me to come over. Miley talks so much about you two that I've been wanting to meet you guys forever."

"Same here," Demi smiled. "You must be pretty special if you can put a smile on my best friend's face every day."

"Alright." I interrupted. The fact that they were talking about me as if I wasn't standing right next to them was making me self-conscious. "Why don't I show you around the house? You can get the special tour."

"Joe, why don't you follow them and I'll finish up the dinner?"

"Okay." He walked up to Nate and said, "Looks like I'm going to be your official tour guide. Let's start out with the living room."

I went to follow them, but I turned back at the last minute. "I better stay with Demi and make sure that she doesn't burn the food," I called and then walked back to the kitchen.

"So is everything going okay?" I immediately asked.

"For the five minutes that he has been here, everything's been going great," she smiled.

"Okay good. I don't know why I'm so worried about this. Maybe it's because I really, really like him and I need you guys to like him."

"You shouldn't _need_ us to like him, but if it helps, I definitely do. And I'm pretty sure Joe does as well. Now the chicken is ready, so let's start putting everything on plates.

I nodded and helped her fill the plates with food; then I picked them up and set them on the table. Joe and Nate walked in 'arguing' about some sports team. It was the kind of banter that you would see between good friends, so it made me happy that it was transpiring between the two of them.

"Miles, you've got yourself a Red Sox fan! That's not acceptable."

"Joe, I don't base the guys I date on the athletic team that they support."

"But…but…he's a Red Sox fan!" He turned and looked at Nate, "Sorry dude, I don't know if we can be friends. But then again, maybe I can make an exception."

"You can make an exception," Demi said as she walked into the dining room. She had overheard the conversation from the kitchen.

Nate was chuckling. "I've always been a Dodgers and a Red Sox fan, nothing is going to change that."

"Well I guess we can agree on being a Dodger's fan," he sighed.

"Ignore Joe, he's still upset over the fact that the Red Sox won that series a couple of weeks ago."

"Why is there even a rivalry between the two teams?" I asked. "Nick- I mean…someone tried to explain it to me a long time ago, but I never understood it."

"Oh no," Demi replied, cutting off both of the boys, "Do not get them started on that. We'll be talking about it all night."

Nate pulled out my chair for me and I whispered, "Thank you." He just smiled and then sat down himself.

"This looks delicious!" Joe exclaimed. His fiancée rolled her eyes as he quickly dug in and stuffed his face.

"So Demi, what ever happened to that Justin Bieber kid? Wasn't he supposed to be the next Michael Jackson or something?"

I almost choked on my chicken from laughing; Demi had done the same. When we had both calmed down enough, she said, "I really have no idea. One second he was being chased by a million hormone-crazed girls and the next thing I know, he's pretty much gone."

"He took our logo, that little punk," Joe said with his mouth full of food.

I giggled, Justin was a sweet kid, but he just let the fame get to his head. I knew it made Joe happy to see that; he was never really a fan.

"Did you grow up here in Los Angeles?"

"Yeah, just down in Santa Monica; right on the beach," Nate smiled. "What about you?"

"Texas girl, born and raised. But I think that I've kind of lost my accent a little bit. The city is taking over."

"Nothing can change you unless you let it. Plus, I can still hear the accent; it's not totally gone."

I sat there with a content smile on my face. My best friends were getting along with my boyfriend and everything was going perfectly. I didn't even have to bring up any of the questions I had thought of before dinner started just in case the conversation lagged.

When we all had finished with our dinners, I stood up and began to collect the empty plates. "I've got dessert for us all. I picked up a pie from the grocery store."

"I love pie," Nate smiled and Joe was grinning as well.

Demi stood up too. "I'll clean up the plates while you get the dessert ready."

"Okay. Thanks Dem."

As I was walking into the kitchen alongside her, our house phone rang. "Miles, will you get that?"

I nodded and went to pick it up. "Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Miley?"

"Yes it is. Who is this?"

"This is John Tierney from Disney," he answered.

My eyes narrowed, "Why are you calling? No offense, but I'm not with your company anymore. Neither is Demi."

He sighed, "I know. We were just wondering if you could possibly come in for a meeting tomorrow morning. It's completely up to you, but it would mean so much to us if you would come."

"What's the meeting about?"

"I can't tell you a lot, only that we are planning a benefit concert and we could really use you. And Demi of course if you would both be willing."

I was silent for a minute; I needed to think about this. But then I finally decided that it wouldn't hurt to just meet with them. "I'll try to convince Demi, but I'll be there tomorrow. What time?"

"We were thinking eleven? And it will be in the regular place."

"I'll be there. Will it only be Demi and I, if I can convince her to come that is."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much Miley. Oh, and so you know, we are also trying to get Joe, Kevin, and Nick to come as well."

"Good luck. I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Tierney. Goodbye."

I hung up before he could say anything and I leaned against the counter just taking in breaths.

Demi looked at me curiously, "What's wrong Miles?"

"I think I just made a deal with the devil."

**_~xoxo~_**

******Dun...dun...dun. Rofl. xD Review?**

******follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's a quick rundown of what's going on in my life just so you guys know why the updates are coming so ridiculously slow. ;) So, until about the middle of November this is what my life is going to be: I'm taking all advanced classes, I have water polo every day after school plus games and such, I'm the president of the American Red Cross club at my school, I do sports medicine so I have to go to at least two football practices a week and one game a week, and then I'm on the homecoming committee. Anyway, I'm very, very sorry for my horrible updating skills. xD**

**_~xoxo~_**

There it was, the Disney building. This was the place that gave us our start, the place that we owe all of our success to. So if this place was so amazing to us, why were we all dreading walking in?

Two reasons.

One; it was eleven o'clock in the morning and we didn't necessarily want to go sit in a stuffy meeting and would probably be dragged out so that they could keep us in there as long as possible.

Two; they were Disney. As much as we had to owe our entire career to them, it took us a lot of time and strength to get out from underneath them. Coming back here today could be a very bad decision.

"Why are we here again?" Joe asked. The three of us, Joe, Kevin, and I, were all standing outside and staring up at the building. None of us were able to take a step forward.

"Because they called us and asked if we would come," my oldest brother answered.

"Yeah, but why did you have to listen to them?" he whined.

"Hey! Blame your girlfriend and your best friend. If they hadn't agreed to come, we wouldn't be here."

"Guys, we just have to get this over with. We'll see what they want from us and go from there."

Joe grumbled, "Fine."

I took a deep breath and I was the first to actually step into the building and then I turned and waved in my older brothers. Finally, a chipper young blonde who looked like she was barely out of high school met the three of us.

"Hi guys! I'm Madison. If you follow me I'll take you to the conference room where everyone is waiting."

"Everyone?" I questioned, as we walked down the hallway past the many different offices and doors.

"Well Miley and Demi arrived about ten minutes ago and then all the bosses are waiting as well."

"Oh okay."

A couple minutes later we reached what I assumed was our destination. Madison (who had talked during the entire walk over here) knocked on the door and then opened it.

"Ahhhh, you boys made it!" the head guy said with a booming voice. "Thank you for taking time to come and meet with us."

Kevin took the lead and nodded, "Of course. It seemed like you really needed us."

"Why don't you take a seat and we'll get this meeting started?"

The three of us took our seats, Joe next to Demi, Kevin next to him, which left me the seat next to Miley. I gave her a smile as I sat down which she returned.

"Hi," she whispered, nudging my shoulder.

"Hey Miles," I responded. She smiled at me and then turned her attention back to the head guys.

The businessman sitting at the head of the table spoke up, "Hello. I'm the one you guys corresponded with on the phone. I'm John Tierney."

A chorus of 'Hellos' echoed throughout the room.

"So as I mentioned on the phone, we're holding a benefit concert to help raise awareness and to collect donations to support the Special Olympics. Now, we do have a batch of singers that are participating in the concert and we know that they'll definitely bring in enough donations, but we want to go above and beyond. That is where you guys come in."

Taking charge, Kevin spoke up, "So what exactly do you want us to do?"

"We just need you to sing; that's it. No contracts are involved, no money, you just have to sing."

"Will you let us create our own set lists?" Miley asked.

"Yes, actually we will. We figure that if we get the word out fast enough, a lot of the older generation is going to want to come and see you guys; especially you, Miley. I know tons of people would kill to come to your concert right now."

She blushed, "Well, I don't think that many people would come to my concert. I haven't sang in a couple years; I don't know how well my voice has survived."

He smiled sympathetically, "People are going to be lining up outside just to get a glimpse of you."

"Yeah Miley." Demi giggled, "I don't think you even realize how much people missed you when you were gone. Girls grew up with you as your idol and now you're back and better than ever."

"Thanks Dem…"

I just smiled at her timid nature when it came to getting back into the entertainment business.

Again, Kevin continued to ask the questions that none of us thought to ask. "Will you get us schedules as soon as possible? We're going to need it at least a week before the show, no exceptions. We need to know what we are going to do once we get to the show."

"Of course. I completely understand. We'll have the schedules finalized in about two days so we'll send them then."

"When exactly is the concert?" I asked curiously.

"Oh! I can't believe we've had this entire conversation and I haven't even mentioned the timeframe for this gathering. The concert will be two weeks from now, on September 17th. It's a Saturday and it's taking place at Disneyland. We're actually constructing an entire stage right in the entrance area."

"So why at Disneyland? Is this a ploy to make people pay eighty dollars per person to go ride rides inside of the park before the concert? Very sneaky, I applaud you guys," the feisty brunette sitting next to me said sarcastically.

All of the guys in suits that had been silent up until now, starting stuttering and tripping over their words, but Mr. Tierney just chuckled. "Miley, you have definitely known us long enough to know our goal. I can't deny that we hope that our guests will buy tickets to get into the amusement park."

I watched as Miley rolled her eyes, but I could still see a hint of a smirk on her face. I laughed quietly because I knew she almost liked this familiarity.

"Do any of you have any more questions?'

We are looked at each other and shrugged. Joe spoke up, "I don't believe so."

"So," Mr. Tierney continued, "are you guys in?

We all smiled and sighed. We may be making deals with the last people on Earth that we would ever want to make deals with, but this was something that the five of us had to do. It was important and best of all, there were no strings attached.

All five of us nodded and Miley said, "Of course we're in."

He clapped his hands together, "Great!"

"Are we free to go?" Demi asked.

"Yes, thank you all so much for coming. This is really going to help a lot."

We all stood up and shook the hands of everyone in the room and then made our way outside.

"Well that was some meeting…" Joe said slowly.

"This is going to be a good thing, right? It is a benefit concert and that has to be good." Miley paused and stared at each one of us, trying to get confirmation of what she already knew.

Demi wrapped her arm around her cautious best friend. It was different for the rest of us; we had stayed in the business, so to us this was just another concert. Sure, it was with Disney, but we could handle it. Miley could as well, we all knew that for a fact, but she was still a little rusty when it came to show business. She obviously wasn't sure if she wanted to get back into it yet.

"Everything is going to be fine, Miles. Think of it as one big party. Like, seriously. We're going to be spending all day at Disneyland, which is totally fun and then we get to sing all night. It's going to a blast."

She smiled slightly, "Yeah, that does sound fun."

"See? It's going to be the best concert ever. Just wait and see."

Kevin started walking towards the parking lot, "Sorry guys. I have to go home and pick up Dani; we're going shopping because we're re-doing our guest room."

"Your guest room? What for?" Miley asked.

"Uh…just because. We want to give it a different feel," he said before he took off in his car.

"What was that all about?" Joe asked curiously.

Demi and Miley were both completely silent but a growing knowledge spread across their faces. They both squealed at the same time and exclaimed, "Dani's pregnant!"

"What?" I said, shocked at their revelation.

The two girls started talking rapidly amongst themselves, Joe and I couldn't even keep up with their conversation. "Can one of you please tell me what the hell is going on? You guys think Dani is pregnant?"

"Everything makes sense. We know that she's been having mood swings, food cravings, and now they're redoing the guest room. Kevin and Danielle are going to have a baby!"

The pair of them started to giggle and smile again, but I was still processing. But Joe sighed. "What if…it happens again? They're not going to be able to handle that for a second time."

"What happened?" Miley asked confused.

"I thought I told you…Joe, didn't I tell her during one of those times we were in London?"

"I'm not sure, you went over there more than I did."

"Can someone please just tell me what happened?"

Demi sighed, "About a year or so ago Danielle got pregnant, but because she wanted to avoid all of the publicity, only family was told but I was included too. Unfortunately she had a miscarriage."

It was really quiet; it was almost the exact same silence that enveloped us when we first found out.

"She…what?" Miley whispered.

"It was horrible. Dani took it really hard and then Kevin had to be strong for her, but it was just a really bad time. None of us thought that they would be trying for another baby anytime soon…"

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Demi shrugged, "It all happened so fast and then I think I didn't want to scare you or worry you. Plus, by the time you got back, they were finally okay, or as close to okay as possible. We all just wanted to get past it."

"Oh…"

I carefully took her hand in mine and squeezed it. It was our signature thing; we both always felt at ease at that touch. "Miles, you can't ever say anything about this. And I mean it. It took a lot to keep it from the press."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise." She looked at me so earnestly that I knew right away she would never let the secret slip out.

All of a sudden, I heard my cell phone go off. Pulling it out of my pocket, I answered it quickly, "Hello?"

"Hi honey. Are you leaving soon?"

I inwardly groaned at her voice. I loved her and all, but sometimes I just needed a little bit of space. "Uh…yeah. The meeting just got out, we're just all talking outside."

"Well why don't you come back to my place?"

"Sure. I'll be there in a little bit, okay?"

"Alright. Bye Nick."

"Bye Sel…"

"Do you have to go?" Demi asked me.

"Yeah. Selena wants me to come over. Joe, can you catch a ride home with Demi?"

He shrugged, "Sure."

Demi walked over to Joe and wrapped her arms around him. Smiling sweetly, she said, "Joey, will you take me to get ice cream?"

"Anything for you, baby."

Miley just stared at them with a smile on her face, but then she shook herself out of it. "I better be going too. I'm meeting Nate before his afternoon class."

"I forgot that you were going to go see him," her best friend grinned. "Tell your boy toy that I said hi."

She giggled, "Will do. I'll see you guys in a little bit, we'll have to find some time to plan the set list."

"Okay. You better get going Miley."

"I am, I am. Make sure Joe gets you the good ice cream."

"Oh trust me, I will."

She smiled and then glanced at me, "Bye Nick. It was good to see you again."

"You too Miles."

Miley nodded and then took off to her car. I looked over at Demi and Joe and flung my hands into the air. "You met him?"

"Who?" they both asked.

"Nate, that's who."

"Dude, you've met him too."

"Yeah, but it's not like it was planned or anything. You two actually met him. What was it? Dinner?"

Joe rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Miley invited him over last night and we all ate dinner together. It was no big deal, Nick. Seriously, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Oh, and aren't you supposed to be meeting your _girlfriend_ at her house right now?"

I scowled, "I'm leaving now. I just wish you would have told me about meeting the guy."

"Mountain out of a molehill," he sing-songed again. Demi just giggled and grabbed his hand. She dragged him over to her car.

"Sorry Nick for your immature brother!" she yelled before shoving him in the car and driving off.

I sighed. He was very difficult to handle sometimes.

After driving around for a little while I finally pulled up to Selena's condo. I just walked in and found her dancing wildly in the living room; she had blasted the latest pop music (and some old stuff too) and was going…crazy. I hadn't seen her like this in a long time.

Leaning against the door to the room, I smiled widely. This is exactly what I wanted to see from her every single day; I wanted to see her being herself.

"Well hello there baby."

She whipped around and her face heated up in embarrassment. Selena raced over to her stereo and quickly turned off the music. "Nick…how long were you standing there?"

I walked over and gave her a kiss, "Long enough to smile."

She giggled, "You weren't here yet and my favorite song came on so I just decided to dance."

"You're dancing has definitely improved. You don't look like a fish out of water anymore."

She gasped and playfully hit my chest, "You're so mean to me."

"But you love me anyway," I smirked.

"You know I do."

I kissed her again, but then she pulled away. "Are you going to tell me what the meeting was about or leave me hanging?"

"Well…they asked us, Demi, and Miley to do a benefit concert in a couple weeks. Something about bringing all their big music stars back in an attempt to collect more donations. They're especially excited about having Miley do it."

"Oh…I wonder why they didn't ask me."

I froze. To be honest, I had forgotten that she also had a career as a singer. That probably wasn't good considering I was her boyfriend…

"Uh…well you never had passion for it, did you? You always loved acting so much more."

She smiled, but I could tell it didn't quite reach her eyes, "Yeah. That's true."

"Why don't we go out to eat? We can go to your favorite restaurant downtown."

"Okay…that sounds fun. Let me just grab my purse."

"I'll wait in the car," I called after her.

As I was walking back out to my car, I thought, '_Damn. I really needed to work on my boyfriend skills._'

**_~xoxo~_**

**Review? :)**

**follow me on twitter; imagineyourlife**


	15. Chapter 15

**Today we remember those who died nine years ago on that fateful day. September 11 is a day of remembrance and mourning, but it also marks the day that our country became stronger than ever. Never forget the lives that were lost whether they were on one of the planes, in one of the buildings, or a brave fighter who went in to help. God Bless America. 3**

**_~xoxo~_**

I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for my two friends to make their way down to baggage claim. They had called over thirty minutes ago informing me that their plane had landed, yet I still hadn't seen them. I guessed that the two of them had gotten lost or something.

I had on a simple disguise, one that wouldn't alert my presence to any fans, but it wasn't going to make Kristen or Alexa suspicious.

All of a sudden, through the thick of the crowd, I distinctly heard two voices float through to my ears; two _British_ accents to be exact. They we just as loud and bubbly as ever and it brought a giant grin to my face.

"I cannot believe that you got us lost!"

"Oh please. I did not get us lost Kris; you told me to take a right so I took a right! It's not my fault that we somehow ended up in the Alaskan Airlines terminal."

Kristen scoffed, "Don't try to blame this on me. Miley's probably going crazy with worry, we called her forever ago saying that we landed."

I stepped up behind them and smirked. "I wouldn't say that I'm going _crazy_ with worry, I was more mad that you guys weren't here yet."

They both whipped around and squealed loudly. The two girls flung their arms around me and wrapped me in a tight group hug.

Following that moment, there was a lot of yelling and hugging and smiling. Then we went to grab their bags and I lead them to my car that was parked in the northern parking garage.

As we were all climbing in, I started talking again. "So how was the flight?"

"So freaking long," Alexa groaned. "I'm already dreading the flight back and that is two weeks away."

"But…" Kristen continued in a happier tone than her best friend, "other than that, it was good."

I laughed, "Well I'm glad that at least one of you can have a positive attitude about coming to visit me."

I pulled out of the garage and carefully made my way onto the freeway. Both of my guests were in awe of the different atmosphere in Los Angeles. However, just because they had their eyes glued on the window, that didn't stop our previous conversation.

"Just because I think long plane rides are the worst things on the planet, that doesn't mean I'm not excited to be here. It's LA baby, it's like my Las Vegas."

"Your Las Vegas?"

"Yeah. Like the real Las Vegas is yours because you already live in an amazing city like Los Angeles, so you need an even higher level of thrill. But I come from a little, sheltered English town so LA is enough thrill for me. Does that make sense?"

I just glanced back at her with a disbelieving look on her face. "That makes no sense."

"I don't think that the break from us did you any good because I know exactly what Alexa just said."

"Or maybe it's because British people are very strange and you have to be one to know one."

"Hey Kris, do you remember when Miley Ray here was actually on our side? Now she's gone all Hollywood on us, it's disappointing."

I aimed a punch to Alexa's shoulder which she replied to with a playful, "Ow…"

"Alright, I'm changing the subject," Kristen said quickly. "So where are we staying again? We spent so much time on the getting over here part, that we didn't focus enough on our living arrangements."

"Right. Well you two are going to crash at my house that I share with my best friend, Demi. You'll both love her death; she's the sweetest person I know."

"Okay…" Lexi said slowly, "what other names do we have to know?"

I thought to myself and then said, "Well Joe for sure, he is Demi's fiancée and you'll probably be seeing him every day. He tends to spend most of his time at our house. And then you'll have to know Nate. He's the boyfriend of mine that I've been telling you about."

"Oh of course. This so-called boyfriend of yours…I must say that we're both very intrigued." Kristen nodded along in agreement of that statement.

"Hush you two. It's not that big of a deal," I said embaressedly.

"You seriously think that? Miley, Kris and I have known you for three years and you never once had a serious relationship and now you suddenly do. You're like a whole new person ever since you came back to California."

I looked over to Alexa (who was sitting in the back seat), "If you want me to be completely honest, I came back here and became the exact same person I was before I left for England."

"Impossible," Kristen replied while leaning back in her seat.

"It's actually completely possible. Ask any one of my friends and they'll say that I'm still the same person. In fact, all the different qualities about me are the ones that I acquired on my extended vacation."

They both looked at me without speaking for a moment, before shrugging. "If you want me to believe that then fine…I'm excited to see what you're life is like, you know, back here in your 'real world'."

I sighed, "You're both going to be pretty shocked about my life. I can assure you of that."

Kristen looked at me suspiciously, "I doubt that your life is going to be very different."

"Well then you're going to be very, very wrong," I said quietly under my breath so that they wouldn't hear.

"Huh?" she questioned.

"Oh…nothing. Look! We're here!" I said, changing the subject. And we had arrived at my house. I was definitely nervous, introducing friends to other friends was always made me a little scared. I wasn't sure what either of their reactions would be.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked Alexa and Kristen.

"Let's do this," they both said excitedly.

I helped them with their bags and I slowly opened the front door. "Demi! We're back!"

I heard footsteps walk quickly down the hallway and then Demi was standing in front of the three of us, all smiles. "You guys are here!" she exclaimed.

"Yes we are…Dem, this is Kristen and that's Alexa. Guys, this is Demi."

They exchanged hellos and then we helped them to their rooms. "This is quite a house," Alexa commented while looking around. "It's definitely better than our small apartment back home. How in the world can you two afford this?"

"Alexa…" Kristen hissed, "be polite."

She shrugged, "It's just a question."

"They still don't know?" Demi asked me quietly, but that didn't mean that the two other girls didn't hear the question.

"We don't know what?"

"Nothing," I replied. "We just have a lot of…savings. It's a long story that I'll fill you two in on some other time."

"Sorry for letting that slip," Demi whispered, quietly this time so that only I could hear.

I just shook my head and continued my way to the two guest rooms. "So you each can choose a room, they're both kind of the same…they just have different views so no fighting please."

They laughed, "We promise. No fighting will come from the two of us."

"Good." I turned to Demi, "Is Joe coming over later? I invited Nate over to meet them so I was thinking we could do dinner or something. Just something easy though, Lexi and Kris aren't cool enough to get the full homemade dinner yet."

"Hey!" Alexa exclaimed, "I heard that."

"You were supposed to, dork. So Demi, do you think that he'll want to come over?"

"You're seriously asking me that? You're waving free food in front of his face, of course he'll be here. Oh, and because he's dying to meet your friends. He thinks that girls from England have this certain kind of '_charm_'. I swear that he's obsessed."

I giggled, along with the two British girls that Demi was speaking of, "Alright. I'll just order a pizza or something. Everything will be very relaxed."

"Sounds fine to me. I have to run a load of boxes over to his place right now anyway so I'll bring him back when I head back over here."

I smiled, "I'll help you bring your stuff to your car."

"Trying to get rid of me, eh?"

"Something like that," I giggled.

"Guys, I'll be right back. Just choose a room and start unpacking."

They both nodded and got to work as I followed my best friend back to her room. We carried about five, heavy boxes out to her car before we were finally done.

"Hey Demi?"

"Yeah?" she asked as she climbed into the driver's seat.

"Can you ask Joe to be subtle about us being famous? I know telling the two of them about who I really am isn't a huge deal or anything, but I guess by telling them I think that the two totally different worlds suddenly become one. I sort of just want them to stay the same."

She smiled softly, "Of course honey. I'll make sure that Joe keeps his mouth shut."

"Thanks."

"Now go call your boyfriend and get him over here. Joe is going to need someone to save him from all the girls tonight."

I laughed, "I will. I'll order pizza in an hour so it should be here in about an hour and a half. Just be back by then."

"I will, I will. By the way, your friends are nice," Demi replied.

"Just wait until you actually get to know them. They'll get crazy on you."

"Oooh…I can't wait," she giggled.

"Okay, go get your man. Just come back soon, promise?"

"Do you like not trust my remembering skills or something? I think I can remember to come back as soon as I drop of the boxes."

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry…I just know that when you and Joe get together and you two are alone…well you know."

She gave me the evil eye. "It was so wonderful talking to you. I'm leaving now."

Demi backed out of the driveway and I stood there waving happily. I laughed quietly once she was out of sight and headed back inside. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Nate's number. I knew that he was in class for another forty-five minutes so I just left him a message.

"Hey Nate. We're going to all order a pizza and stay in tonight. You're welcome to come over if you want, just drop by whenever. Okay, I have to go. Call me later."

I heard laughter coming from the back room so I followed the noise. "Have you guys figured out the room situation yet?"

"Yep!" Kristen said. "Everything is figured out. Hey Miles, is that Nate? You two are so cute together, oh my gosh. You two like fit." She pointed to a photograph on the wall.

I looked at it and my eyes went wide. "Uh…no actually. That's Nick. He's my ex-boyfriend…"

Her eyes went just as wide as mine. "Oh…um…I'm sorry. This is awkward."

I waved it off, "Don't worry about it. It's whatever. Let me help you guys unpack everything. Knowing you two, you guys probably packed your entire closet."

"That would be correct. Let's go!" Alexa yelled happily.

All this energy in the house was making my head spin. I loved both Alexa and Kristen, but they seriously needed to tone things down just a tiny bit.

_**~xoxo~**_

It was four hours later when things finally did tone down. My two visiting friends were exhausted from their trip and I could tell that their enthusiasm was declining. They seemed to really love Nate and vice versa. He was a little overwhelmed by their personalities but they got along well.

I was currently wrapped in Nate's arms, laying on the couch while Joe and Demi were on the reclining chair. The six of us were playing truth or dare, just like I used to do way back when. It was fun to be in that place again, that feeling of freedom (even if I did give up some truths that I didn't want to).

"Alright, Joe gets to give out the last truth or dare to whoever he wants to," his fiancée said

He grinned evilly, "This shall be fun. Okay, this is for Miley."

"Oh no…" I groaned. "Okay, I pick truth."

"I've got a good one. Miley, do you like the term 'Niley'?" He said it so innocently that if I wasn't able to see the hidden smirk in his eyes, I would have thought that he asked it only because he was truly curious.

I glared at him while Demi sat there trying very hard to stifle her laughter as best as possible. The other three were just plain confused.

"Joe…" I said; warning laced my tone.

"Yes?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Oh but you have to. It's the rules of the game."

I was about to literally kill him, "Fine. Yes, I like that word. Okay?"

"That's good to know," he said with a still-innocent smile. That was when Demi burst out into laughter. She was laughing so hard that she was clutching her sides and barely breathing.

"You two need to shut up."

"What's going on?" Alexa asked.

"Yeah…I'm confused," Nate agreed.

"It's nothing. Joe is just being annoying as hell."

"Well anyway, since I'm on London time, I'm going to go to sleep. I bet Kristen will want to too."

"Definitely," the other girl said.

They stood up and said goodnight to everyone and then disappeared into their respective rooms.

"Are you going to stay the night?" I asked my adorable boyfriend.

He still seemed a little weirded out by Joe's question, like he was trying to figure out what 'Niley' meant. I really hoped that he didn't figure it out.

"I have an early class in the morning," he said regretfully.

"Oh alright. You'll come by tomorrow though, right?"

"Of course." He leaned in and kissed me, but softly because Joe and Demi were still in the room staring at us. "Goodnight Miley. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay," I smiled. And walked him to the door and watched as he left. Then I walked back into the living room and rounded on Joe. "Why the hell would you ask me that? In front of Nate especially!"

He shrugged, "I wanted to know."

"Then you should have asked me in private, not in front of my boyfriend."

"It's no big deal. Ten bucks says that he doesn't even know what that means."

I sighed, "I really just don't want to bring up a past relationship right in front of my new one."

"Well my dear old brother is going to be very pleased with the information that I've uncovered. He's still in love with you, you know."

"First, you're talking weird. And second, he doesn't love me anymore. He loves Selena."

He mimicked my tone of voice, "First, I don't really care if I'm talking weird. Second, he is so in love with you that it hurts. And third…I don't have anything else to say."

I giggled, "You're very funny. Demi can you tell your fiancée that Nick doesn't love me?"

She sighed, "I hate to tell you this, but he does Miles. It's obvious. But he would never dump Selena because he's a coward, no offense to him or anything."

I just stared at them. I knew that Nick didn't love me…there was no way that he could. Right? Of course. He loved Selena and I was on my way to loving Nate. Things were finally okay.

"I'm going to head to bed," I said suddenly. "Don't keep anyone up with your sex noises."

They both chuckled quietly. Then Demi whispered, as if trying not to break my already fragile heart, "Goodnight Miley…"

_**~xoxo~**_

**Review?**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	16. Chapter 16

**Um, hi. This is really late and I almost forgot to do it this weekend, but here I am. Technically it's still the weekend where I live even if I should be asleep. Let's hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. :)**

_**~xoxo~**_

"Rise and shine, merry sunshine."

I groaned and slowly turned over in my bed and opened my eye to see Demi smiling next to me. "Hi."

"Get up, get up, get up," she chirped and then she turned and threw open my curtains like they did in the movies. "We have a long day ahead of us."

"Why are you getting me up so early?"

"Because you asked me to!"

"Oh…I don't remember anything of that sort. I never want to be woken up at seven in the morning again." I threw the covers over my head and hoped that she would forget that I did actually ask her to get me up at this horrible time.

"Nope. The concert is today which means we actually have stuff to do for once, so get up."

I sighed and finally started to make my way out of bed. "Are Lexi and Kristen up? Or do they get to sleep?"

"They get to sleep because they don't have to perform a show tonight."

"I guess that's a good reason," I mumbled softly.

"You think?" she laughed. "Okay, so we have to be there at one. Then we do the whole walk around the park thing, we ride a couple of rides, and then our part of the concert starts at like six, I think."

"It sounds busy."

"It's just another day…" Demi shrugged.

"Maybe for you, but I haven't done this in three years? Remember?"

"I actually do remember. You tell me that every five seconds."

I rolled my eyes. "Just because it is the truth. I don't know if I'll be able to find that performer in me again. Or at least just not by tonight."

"Miley," my best friend stated as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, "may I remind you that you had been doing this long before I even started _and_ if I remember correctly, you were a lot better at it."

I gave her the kind of look that said 'you've got to be kidding me'. She just smiled and nodded, but I wouldn't allow it. "You are an amazing singer/performer/everything."

"I never said I wasn't," Demi paused, "That sounded cocky, but you know what I mean. It's just…Miley…you don't even understand the impact you have on people. And I'm not talking about me or a certain trio of brothers; I'm talking about the fans. They look up to you and love you; face it, you're their role model."

"Sometimes I think that I'm not the person they should model themselves after," I said softly.

She shrugged, "Sometimes you won't be, but when it counts, when it really, truly counts, you are."

"I guess. Anyway, we better start getting ready; after all, that's why I'm up at this hour, right?"

Demi laughed, "Yeah, that's why you're up. Oh, you do realize that you're going to have to tell Alexa and Kristen about your big, bad secret, right?"

I groaned, "Yes. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do about that. I mean, I can't just tell them straight out. I really don't think that they'll care too much, but I don't want them to think that I didn't trust them…"

"You'll just have to deal with those consequences, Miles. I don't think that they'll be too bad, I think that they will be really excited when they find out."

"I hope so…now I'm changing the subject. Is there coffee ready?"

"Yeah," she giggled, "There's a fresh pot on the counter." She stood up and started to walk towards the door. "I have to call Joe and make our plans for the rest of the day, so I'll let you change and I'll see you out there."

"Okay," I smiled. "Oh, before I forget, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you know if…if Selena is going to be there today?"

"I don't know…I wish that I could say know, just to save the entire day from awkwardness, but there's a good chance that she will be there. Joe has been saying that she's been hanging on to Nick a lot lately."

"Alright…I'll prepare myself," I laughed.

"Are you bringing Nate?"

I nodded, "Hence the reason why I was worried about Selena. The entire day is going to turn into a war between Nick and I."

"A war?"

"Yeah. Like who can shove their date in the other's face first type of thing."

"Oh."

"Oh well. I'll just have to live. You can go call Joe now."

She grinned and said half-sarcastically, "Today is going to be so much fun!"

Several hours had come and gone and it was now one-thirty, a half-hour until we were supposed to walk around Disneyland.

I was sitting nervously inside my car outside of the park. I rode with the girls, and then Joe and Demi of course. I tapped my knee against the steering wheel and took a couple of breaths. "Lexi, Kris, I sort of have something to tell you guys."

"What's up Miley?" they asked curiously, leaning up towards the front of the car to hear me better.

"Ummm…" I glanced nervously at Demi who gave me an encouraging smile. "Well, I kind of never really told you guys about my life before, um…before I met you two."

Alexa cocked her head and asked, "What about it?"

"I'm, um…I'm kind of…famous."

"Famous? Like…what does that mean?"

"It means that I'm famous," I stated, finally sensing some of my confidence coming back. "As in a sort of teen pop sensation type of famous."

They just looked at me in disbelief; like serious disbelief. I bet that they thought I was just kidding around with them or something.

"I knew that you looked familiar…" Kristen whispered. "When I first met you I thought that you were maybe her…but it just seemed too weird, so not like you so I brushed it off and got to know the person that you wanted us to get to know."

"I don't get it," Alexa said, ignoring her friend. "So you're famous? Like really famous?"

I smiled softly, "Yeah."

She broke out in a huge smile. "That's so cool!"

"You really think so? You're not mad that I didn't tell you before?"

Alexa waved my question off. "I would have done the same thing as you did. I wouldn't have wanted everyone to be in my business while I was trying to create a new life for myself."

I turned to Kristen. "Kris? What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking…" she paused, "I'm thinking that as much as I would have wanted to know, I think that it's pretty awesome that you're famous."

I threw my arms around the both of them and hugged them tightly. "I'm so glad that you guys are okay with it!" I exclaimed.

They laughed and then Lexi turned and looked at Demi. "So I'm guessing that you're famous too, right?"

"Actress and singer."

"And you?" she asked Joe.

He shrugged, "Singer and actor."

"So you guys kind of have the same background, like career wise."

"That's because we were all brought up by Disney," Demi laughed. "We're all made to be the same. Thankfully a couple of us were able to get out of its stronghold and actually make a name for ourselves."

"Who was able to get out?" they asked curiously.

"Well me, Miley, Joe and his brothers, Selena a little bit, and some other people. But that's about it."

Not wanting this conversation to go any further (because we all knew how long the three of us could talk about the inner workings of Disney), I got out of the car and said, "Guys we better get inside the park, I'm actually excited to ride the rides. There's no pressure today."

The four remaining people in the car gave each other confused looks (yes, I can see through tinted windows), but got out anyway. "To Disneyland!" Joe exclaimed, while Demi restrained him from charging towards the park.

Alexa and Kristen both caught up to me and linked my arms with theirs. "So, tell us exactly why we're going to Disneyland."

"Not that it's not cool or anything," Alexa clarified, "It's just that going to amusement parks isn't our usual thing."

"Well girls, I'm actually performing here tonight. The Disneyland thing is just a formality, plus it will be fun for us."

"We get to see you perform? That is so great!"

I giggled, "You have to promise not to throw things though."

"But what if they're flowers?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically, "Fine. You can throw flowers if it's absolutely necessary."

The three of us just laughed and made our way inside of the park. Demi and Joe had been acting grossly cute behind us, but now they were standing in front of Alexa, Kristen, and I.

The mob saw the two of them first. They came quickly, surrounding them like crazy fan-girls.

Scratch that.

They _were_ crazy fan-girls.

Different objects were being shoved in their faces all at once. From pieces of paper, to actual autograph books, to gum wrappers. I don't think that they really cared what was signed as long as something was signed. Joe and Demi just absorbed it all and kept their happy smiles on their faces while they interacted with the fans, although, it wasn't like they had to pretend to be happy around them.

Of course right then, they all noticed me and the place went crazy. It wasn't like I was more popular than my friends that stood in front of me, but apparently at that moment, my popularity shot up like a rocket.

"Miley!"

"Miley, over here!"

"Can you sign this? Please?"

I was overwhelmed, but I played my part well. I took in the attention like I used to and flashed as many smiles as I could. The truth was, I was having the time of my life; nothing could replace this feeling of being on top of the world.

Now let's get out of my head that is filled with butterflies and rainbows at the moment and go back to reality.

We finally had said hi and given autographs to everyone who had come up to the three of us (and let me say that it was a lot of people). It was difficult at first to make our way to the first ride we came upon, but eventually we had hit at least half of the park.

"You know, I'm surprised that we haven't run into Nick yet," Demi said thoughtfully. "He said that he was going to be here."

"He probably just got held up or something. I doubt he's even in the park yet."

"Hm…anyway, do you all want to go check out the new Disney talent? They should be on stage already. We have to see what we're up against tonight," she said with a chuckle.

I shrugged, "Why not? It could be fun."

Coincidentally, when we got over to the stage area, Nick was walking in with Selena on his arm. Joe waved them over and they slowly walked towards us. I braced myself for the obvious awkward moment that was sure to occur in a minute.

"Who are they?" Kristen whispered in my ear.

"Joe's brother who is also my ex-boyfriend and that's his girlfriend, someone who I don't totally get along with," I whispered back right before they came up to us.

"Oh…okay," she replied back slowly and looked at the two people who just arrived.

"Hey guys!" Joe greeted them cheerfully.

"Hey…" Nick replied awkwardly as he glanced at me. I gave him a small smile and a nod and did the same for Selena. Even though one could say that my smile towards her was a little colder; what can I say? We have issues.

"Sooo…" Demi said just as awkwardly. "Have you met Miley's friends from across the sea?"

"Oh, no I haven't," he said, obviously thankful for the topic. "Hi guys. I'm Nick."

"Hi!" Alexa said happily. "I'm Alexa and that's Kristen."

"I'm Selena," the other girl said, trying to involve herself in the conversation.

"Hey, nice to me you two. We've heard a lot about you guys."

I almost laughed out loud because of the words that came out of Lexi's mouth. They were such big lies that it was hilarious. I haven't even spoken one word about Nick or Selena to the two of them.

Nick just nodded and turned back to his brother. "So these guys on stage are pretty good…"

"We just got here but I guess they are. It's looks like Disney actually did good in replacing us."

Demi took on a tone that bled sarcasm. "Pft, no one can replace us, we're just too good."

I laughed. "Four years ago that's what everyone thought, and now look. The newest generation of fans is obsessed with the generation of performers."

My best friend sighed, "You're always so serious now, it's depressing. When is your incredibly awesome boy toy…I mean _boyfriend_, getting here? I need him to spice you up."

I rolled my eyes, but answered anyway. "I don't know. He'll be here whenever his class is over, which should be soonish."

She groaned impatiently, "Well then you need to tell him to hurry up."

"Fine, I'll call him."

"Is this her boyfriend, Nate, that you two are talking about?" Kristen asked excitedly. Alexa was also grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes! You'll love him. He is so sweet and totally cute. If I wasn't getting married in a couple months, I'd date him myself."

"Excuse me?" Joe spluttered with shock.

She waved him off, "Oh you know it's true."

As I was waiting for Nate to answer his phone I said, "Dem, please don't date my boyfriend. That's happened to me before."

I swore that I heard Selena suck in a breath and Nick cough awkwardly. I just smirked as I watched Demi and Joe turn their heads away to conceal their laughter.

Right then, Nate picked up. "Hey Mi."

"Hey! Are you here yet?"

"Yeah, I've just been wandering around aimlessly trying to find you," he laughed.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I did. You didn't answer."

"Oh. Well I'm answering now. Um, we're all over by the stage area like right outside the gates of the park. Where are you?"

"I'm by the stage too. Oh wait, I see you! I'll be right there." He hung up and I was left somewhat flustered. 'Thanks for saying goodbye,' I muttered.

"Is he here?" Demi asked excitedly.

I smiled, "Yeah, apparently he saw us so he should be here any minute."

I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist from behind and I immediately smiled. "Hi babe."

I turned around in his embrace and looked up at his gorgeous eyes. "Hey there stranger. Glad you could come."

"It was my pleasure," he smiled.

Demi waved happily, "Hi!"

"Hey Demi, Joe." He looked around and noticed Nick and Selena and gave them a slight nod. Then he noticed the two new girls beside me and gave me a confused glance.

"Oh, Nate this is Kristen and that's Alexa. Guys, this is my boyfriend Nate."

They both just stared in awe and smiled hugely at the sight of him.

"So you're both from England?" he asked.

Kristen was the first to actually recover from the shock that I had a boyfriend. "You bet. I'm Kristen, which you already knew of course. I didn't think that you really existed."

"Well I do," he grinned. "I've heard a whole lot about you from Miley. I'm really glad that you could make your way out here."

"I'm super glad that we could come too," Lexi said. "And that we could meet you. Oh, and all the wonderful other people in Miley's life."

Before anyone else could talk, a woman with a headset came up to our group. "Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you guys, but we kind of need to start setting up for your concert. Only if you're ready though."

We shrugged and I said, "Sure. We'll be right there."

She smiled and walked away while talking into her headset.

"So, ready guys?" I asked.

Joe laughed, "It's going to be just like old times."

**_~xoxo~_**

**Review?**

**Okay, I still love this story, it's just my schedule keeps me extremely busy so I can't say for sure when the next update will be. One good thing is that homecoming is finally over so that frees me up a lot so now it's just classes, water polo, Red Cross, and sports medicine...haha. Please stick with me though. I've got some good chapters coming up. :D**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	17. Chapter 17

**So, so sorry for the wait. Life is busy...**

**~xoxo~**

I was breathing heavily on the side of the stage, my chest moving up and down, a little off the rhythm of the song blasting throughout the concert area. I looked around while gripping my stomach tightly. Demi was standing next to me, probably waiting to catch me if I happened to faint, the boys had disappeared somewhere, and Alexa and Kristen were spread out talking to various people backstage.

"Why am I so nervous?" I asked my best friend quietly.

"Because you're psyching yourself out. You're going to do great," she smiled encouragingly.

I shook my head and focused on tapping my foot on the concrete ground.

A voice, loud, but not loud enough to penetrate the sound of the music pumping through the speakers from the stage, blew through the loudspeaker and said: _"Lovato to the stage in five minutes…Lovato to the stage in five minutes…"_

"I guess that's me," Demi said slowly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," I said as convincingly as possible. "Did you see where Nate went?"

"I think he snuck off with Joe somewhere. They probably went to ride the Matterhorn again." Demi rolled her eyes, "They're such boys."

"You gotta love them though," I giggled.

She looked at me thoughtfully. "Do you love him? Nate I mean, because if it was Joe then I think we would have something to talk about."

I sighed, "I don't know. I think I could, but to be honest, it's a little early to really make that decision yet. We really haven't been dating for that long."

"I guess. You just tend to fall for guys really quickly."

"Exactly. Which is why I'm trying to change that."

Demi shrugged, "Maybe falling for him wouldn't be such a bad thing." She chanced a glance at her ex-best friend who stood poised near the backstage exit. "Maybe moving on from the people who hurt you isn't a bad thing."

With a solemn expression on my face, I nodded my head towards the stage. "It looks like she's finishing up, you're up Dem."

She snorted, "Wish me luck. I didn't exactly prepare for this performance other than the fact that I gave them a list of the songs I was going to sing."

"Oh please. You're going to blow their minds."

"Oh I'm sure I will," she laughed with sarcasm lacing her tone. "If you see Joe around can you remind him that we're doing our duet together."

I chuckled, "Sure. And if I can find him?"

"Then I guess I won't be doing the duet." Demi noticed the frazzled stage managers frantically waving her over. "Looks like I'm up. I'll be back in a few Miles."

"Bye Demi," I smiled and watched as she walked over, took a microphone in her hand, and strode out onto the stage as if she owned the world.

She started off the crowd with _La La Land_ and then went from there. I giggled at her facial expressions on the stage and her interaction with the fans. I could tell that she was having a lot of fun.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around my stomach and spun me around. I was giggling as they put me down and I turned to look into a bright pair of green eyes. "Well hello there."

"Hey Miley," Nate smiled, pecking me on the cheek.

Joe stepped up next to me and said, "Demi is already on?"

"Yeah, where have you been?"

He shrugged with a non-committed, "Nate and I have just been exploring."

"Exploring?" I giggled, "That sounds…fun."

"It was. There is lots of people here today thanks to us."

"There are always people at Disneyland, Joe. This place is crowded every single day."

"Yeah, yeah," he said waving off my comment. "Wait…am I supposed to be on stage right now to sing with her?"

I nodded while smiling, "Yeah. You better get out there."

His eyes widened, "Oh crap. Okay, I'll see you guys in a little bit." He started to walk to the entrance to the stage, but before he got there, Joe turned back to me and shouted, "You're going to knock their socks off Miles; just you wait."

I blushed but grinned anyway, "Thanks."

Once he left, I finally turned my attention to my boyfriend. "So what exactly does 'exploring' mean?"

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, "Have I told you lately how absolutely gorgeous you are?"

"You're avoiding the subject," I replied knowingly, but I couldn't help the smile that graced my lips.

"Oh I know." Nate leaned down and pecked my lips softly. I sighed at the touch and leaned further into his embrace.

Of course we were interrupted by none other than Selena; she walked up to us with a tight smile on her face that was completely fake. Her hands were twisting nervously at her waist and I could tell that she didn't really want to be anywhere near us.

"Hi Miley," she said politely.

"Hey Selena," I replied just as nicely. "What's up?"

"Have you seen anyone that I know? Nick disappeared and I can't find Kevin or Dani either…it's kind of lonely by myself over there."

In that moment I felt sorry for her. She didn't deserve to be feel abandoned and alone, especially when I knew for a fact that she had many people who cared deeply for her.

"I don't know where anyone is. I'm sorry…"

"Oh. It's fine. I'll just…um, I'll go look for them."

I reached out and grabbed her arm. She looked surprised at the touch and raised her eyebrows. "Why don't you just hang out with me? I don't go on stage until after Demi and the guys."

"Really?" she asked, obviously a little concerned over my sudden turn around in behavior.

I shrugged, "Why not? Maybe we could talk a little bit. I've been gone a long time, so I think it will do us good to talk."

She glanced nervously at Nate, but complied anyway with my offer. "So…how was your time away?"

"It was good," I smiled. "It was definitely a different experience though."

"Sounds like it. I remember when I found out that you left. It was…weird. I never, ever would have expected it. Especially from you, you were always…I don't know, I can't explain it."

I laughed, "I get it. I've heard the same thing from everyone and they can't really put it into words either. But how has your life been?"

"It's been pretty good, I guess. Quiet though, not a lot of stuff has been going on."

"You were in a couple movies though. Demi told me that they were supposedly really good. They did good in the box office, right?"

Selena blushed, "I guess so. I mean, I don't…I don't want to like steal anyone's 'thunder' or anything."

"That's a first," I said quietly.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Uh…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't…uh, I didn't mean to say that; it just came out."

"It's okay. This is going to take a little time to get used to this."

"This?"

"Us being, you know, friends and stuff."

I smiled softly, "Friends. I like it."

All of a sudden, Nick walked up to the two of us and I watched Selena immediately look relieved. I had to admit that I was too, our road to friendship would be long, the beginning wasn't necessarily going to be easy.

"Hey guys."

"Nick! Where have you been?"

He shrugged, "Around." Nick looked between the two of us cautiously, "You two okay?"

"We're fine," I said sharply. I didn't need him to play the babysitter for Selena and me. I turned back to my boyfriend who was talking with someone (I think that he was apart of security or something), "Nate, let's walk around."

He stopped his conversation and chuckled, "Glad to see that you finally remembered I was here."

I rolled my eyes, "So sorry. Can we please go for a walk?"

"Anything for you." He looked back at his new friend, "Hey Marcus, can we finish our conversation in a little while?"

"Sure." He then smiled at me, "Miley, nice to see you here."

"Uh, you too," I smiled back.

Before Nate and I had the chance to walk away, however, we were stopped by Nick, "Miles, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to sing _Before the Storm_…you know, right before you go on."

"Excuse me?" I asked surprised.

Did he seriously just ask me that? Like, seriously? He knows that is our song, one that is sung when we're in love and happy. I don't think that it's appropriate to sing it when we're both with other people. Especially when I'm trying to distance myself from him.

"Only if you wanted to. I just thought that it would be a good transition into your part of the concert."

I didn't know what to say, so instead I distracted myself by looking around at the people around me (everyone except for Nick that is). Nate didn't really seem to care either way, he didn't know the importance of the song, but Selena looked like she cared. She looked like she cared _a lot_.

Her eyes were wide and her lips were pursed. Oh, and her nose was flared. That didn't seem good. I gave her a look that let her know I was sorry and she gave me a curt nod.

I sighed, "Fine. We'll sing it. But Joe and Kevin better be up there on stage with us."

"That's fine. So you'll be back soon, right? We're going on in a couple minutes or so…"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay."

"Okay. Nate, let's go."

As soon as we were out of earshot, Nate spoke. "So…that went well."

"You think?"

"Well you two weren't killing each other and from what I've heard about the two of you, that's a good thing."

I giggled, "We're not _that_ bad around each other. Only sometimes."

"Still, the two of you did great. Except that snarky little comment of yours was very close to ruining your civil conversation," he replied with a chuckle.

I blushed, "I couldn't help it! I really didn't mean to say it, but it just sort of came out. Does it help that I felt bad afterwards?"

He shrugged, "I'm not sure. I don't really know how these things work… Anyway, aren't you supposed to go on stage soon? I can't wait to see you perform." He flashed me an adorable, toothy grin that made me stand on my tip-toes and peck his lips softly.

"You'll get to see me soon. Although, I don't know if I really want you watching."

Nate placed a fake pout on his face. "Why not?"

"Because you make me nervous."

"Well that can't mean good things for our relationship."

I smiled, "Oh, trust me, it means a lot of good things for a our relationship. Everyone needs a bit of excitement in their lives."

He laughed, "Alright then. Sounds good to me."

"Can you do me a favor?"

We had walked about one 'section' over and were now in Fantasyland. "Sure what is it?"

"Can you maybe keep an eye out for Kris and Lexi? I have no idea where they disappeared to but I'm guessing they're in the crowd. They've never been here so I think they'll probably get lost."

"Of course, hun. They seemed to like me, right?"

"Oh, they loved you. They'll probably never stop talking about you from now on. Why do you have to be so perfect?" I joked.

"It must be a character flaw."

I giggled, but my eyes lit up when I saw It's A Small World. Before Nate could stop me, I was dragging him to the ride and within minutes we were on one of the small boats heading into the land of singing robots.

We were actually on the boat with a group of young adults; they couldn't be any older than me. I, along with the group, laughed and talked throughout the entire ride and I signed a couple autographs and took some pictures (I forgot how good it felt to interact with fans).

When we got off the ride, Nate tugged at my arm. "You look sad."

"I just wish I could ride this ride over and over again and never look back. I'm afraid to perform."

"First, you absolutely don't want to ride that ride over and over again because that song would probably make you want to put a gun to your head. And second, you are going to do absolutely amazing up on that stage. Trust me, once you get up there you are going to get into your element and you'll blow everyone away."

"Why are you so good to me?" I asked quietly.

"Because you deserve it. Now let's get you back to the stage."

I grinned and gratefully grabbed his hand that was stretched out towards me. Nate pulled me along through the throngs of people who all seemed to be heading towards the stage area as well.

'_Oh great, more people to see me mess up,"_ I thought silently with a sigh.

I was picked up in the pre-show jitters as soon as I got backstage. I think everyone was feeling them. Everyone present backstage shot me smiles whenever they would walk by me, but I could tell that they were nervous too, maybe not for me or for my performance, but everyone was nervous.

Before I knew it, I had my microphone in place and I was being pushed out onto the brightly lit stage. I squinted into the light and gazed out at the audience and took a deep breath.

The first chords of the song came on and I heard Nick humming the intro. I opened my mouth…

'_I know this isn't what I wanted. I never thought it'd come this far. Just thinking back to where we started, and how we lost all that we are.'_

Then Nick jumped into his part while walking a little closer to me. I, in turn, turned my back to him and tried my best to just focus on the lyrics.

'_We were young and times were easy. But I could see it's not the same. I'm standing here but you can't see me. I'd give it all for that to change. And I don't want to lose her, don't wanna let her go.'_

I closed my eyes and breathed in the music. Along with my ex-boyfriend, I sang the next couple lines of the song.

'_Standing out in the rain, need to know if it's over, cause I will leave you alone. Flooded with all this pain, knowing that I'll never hold her like I did before the storm…'_

'_With every strike of lightning,'_

'_Comes a memory that lasts.'_

'_And not a word is left unspoken as the thunder starts to crash.'_

'_Maybe I, should give up.'_

'_Standing out in the rain, need to know if it's over cause I would leave you alone.'_

'_Flooded with all this pain, knowing that I'll never hold her, like I did before the storm.'_

By this time, I had pretty much given up on avoiding Nick and we were now standing in the middle of the stage, facing each other. We were so close that I could feel the heat radiating from his body. I could feel the tears falling lightly, I was sure that they were streaking my cheeks.

It didn't help that Nick was looking at me so passionately that all I wanted to do was lean over and kiss him.

But I couldn't. Because that would obviously be wrong. Right? Right.

'_Trying to keep, the lights from going out. And the clouds from ripping out my broken heart. They always say, a heart is not a home without the one who gets you through the storm. Standing out in the rain, knowing that it's really over, please don't leave me alone. I'm flooded with all this pain, knowing that I'll never hold you, like I did before the storm…'_

We were both breathing heavily by the end of the song. I just stared at Nick, as my chest heaved up and down and small sweat beads had accumulated on my forehead, not to mention the tears on my cheeks. Nick opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly reached up and brushed the tears away from my face and then faced the crowd.

They were cheering wildly, so I gave them a smile and a small bow, which only set them off more. I giggled at their enthusiasm.

"How are ya'll doing tonight?" I said into the mic.

That was met with more and more cheering.

I grinned, "Great! I'm so glad that ya'll came out, it's been a long time since I've been up on this stage. I want you guys to give a huge hand to the amazing performers that went before me, especially Demi and the guys."

More applauding and some screams.

"You're all going to have to excuse me, I haven't been up on stage in…well a long time," I chuckled in to the microphone. "So I'm still on the fence about what to sing first. Ya'll have any suggestions?"

So I wasn't entirely truthful, I actually knew exactly what my song lineup was going to be but I figured that I would let the audience think that they chose for me. After about thirty seconds, I calmed the crowd down. "Okay, okay. Let's start off with a little song I like to call…_Party in the USA_."

And that's how the rest of my night went. I sang song after song and after each one I loosened up considerably. By my last song of the night (the end of my second encore), I was actually in the crowd, interacting with them. It felt amazing.

I ran back up to the stage and gave one last thank you, before walking quickly back backstage.

"That felt…amazing, fantastic, wonderful…ahhhhh!" I exclaimed to no one in particular as soon as I had completely walked off the stage.

"Miley, you did so good!" Demi shouted and then wrapped her arms around me. Soon enough, Joe joined the hug, then Danielle and Kevin and by the end, even Nick was a part of it.

It was almost like the old days.

_**~xoxo~**_

**Thoughts? I don't own the song Before the Storm, it belongs to...someone else. Haha. Review?**

**Quick update; Broken Smile will be updated soon. I have the next chapter done, I just need to put the finishing touches on it. I also have like three one-shots that I've written and I think I might post them. Just let me know if you want them posted. :)**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	18. Chapter 18

_**This is for Carter, whose birthday is today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER! You're a great friend and totally my Harry Potter buddy. And I love you for that. Haha. I hope that your birthday is wonderful. I love that word. xD**_

_**~xoxo~**_

I knocked on the door of Joe's house, but of course, as usual, there was no answer. So now there were three options: he was sleeping, not paying attention, or not home. Considering it was the afternoon I doubted that he was sleeping (contrary to popular belief, he actually usually got up at a decent hour). His car was in the driveway so he was most likely home. So that only left the last option: he just wasn't paying any attention.

I figured that was enough cause for me to walk into his house without being physically let in. After all, he let himself into my house all the time.

"Joe!" I called, peaking my head around the door. There was no answer so I walked further into his house. The farther I went in, the closer I seemed to be getting to my elusive brother.

Finally, I found him, or I guess I should say _them_. Joe was in his very large background, having a barbeque, but he wasn't alone. Sitting around in various chairs were Demi, Miley, and her two friends whose names had already slipped my mind. I found it funny that Joe was completely content with hanging out with all girls.

"Uh, hey guys…"

"Nick!" Demi exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just going to hang out with Joe, but I guess that I should have called first…"

"Oh no, it's fine!" she said loudly and then she waved me farther in. I followed her gesture slowly, I wasn't necessarily sure that I even wanted to stay. There were too many people there, girls mainly and girls loved to talk and ask questions. I only had Joe to be my buffer and we all knew that he wasn't the very best at that.

"Hey Nick," Miley said to me while smiling. She softly patted the open spot next to her and I sat down hesitantly.

"What's going on here?" I asked. It was obviously some sort of gathering; why they were here I had no idea.

"Well Alexa and Kristen go back home tomorrow, so we figured that we would have one last hoorah," she replied. I could tell by the way that her smile tightened that she wasn't happy that her friends were leaving, not that I would be either.

"Well that's nice." I turned to her friends, "She's sure going to miss you guys around here."

Kristen (or maybe it was Alexa, I couldn't tell the two apart yet) spoke in a British accent, "Well we're going to miss her too, very much. I'm hoping that she will come out and visit us sometime soon, sometime very soon."

I could sense that Miley was smiling. She said, "You wouldn't be able to keep me away if you tried, Kris. I'll begin showing up on random days on your doorstep."

"Fine with me," replied Kristen.

"And you know that McKenna is dying to have you back. She put Bryson on your job and he's failing miserably. He's amazing when it comes to sports, but hand him features and he might as well be a dog trying to cook supper," Alexa said seriously with a note of playfulness in her tone.

Miley shook her head in laughter, "The things you say…"

"Who's McKenna?" Demi asked curiously.

"I've told you about her, haven't I? She's my boss, or was my boss I mean."

"Oh right, sorry. There's so many names of people I've never met before, they slip my mind sometimes."

I just leaned back in my seat next to Miley, listening to their many stories. I had a content smile on my face because the whole thing was so simple, a no-pressure situation. Eventually, I don't know how much time had passed, it could have been anywhere from five to thirty minutes, Joe called me over to help him with something in the kitchen. The girls weren't even paying attention, so I quickly got up and followed him into the house.

"Quite a party you have here," I said as I walked in.

He shrugged, "Yeah. I figured I'd give the girls a chance to hang out together and I'd just make them food. I'm glad you came though, you can keep me company, even though you seem to be spending all your time next to Miss Miley."

"Don't start, Joe."

"I'm not starting anything! It was just an observation…where is Selena anyway?"

"She had a thing to go to."

"A thing?"

"Well if you really want to know, she's at a read-through for the new movie she's doing."

"Oh well that's nice," Joe said with a smile.

I shrugged, "Yeah… What did you need help with?"

"Oh! Can you grab those plates of stuff for the hamburgers? The ones with the tomatoes and lettuce and stuff."

"Yeah sure." I walked over and grabbed the two plates. I followed my older brother back out to the sitting area. Before we got within earshot of the girls, Joe turned back at me.

"Hey Nick? Just remember while we're out here that you have a girlfriend and Miley has a boyfriend, okay."

I rolled my eyes. "Just keep walking, Dr. Phil."

Joe stopped walking once he reached the barbeque and then proceeded to place some of the meat on to it. "I really hope none of you are vegetarians."

"I don't believe I would be able to last a day without meat," Alexa laughed.

"Same here," Kristen agreed. "I did try once though, it didn't work out too well. I believe my family served buffalo wings that night. They weren't exactly willing to help out with my change in lifestyle so I just gave up."

"Nick, do you remember the time I tried to be a vegetarian?" Miley asked me with a sparkle in her eye.

I chuckled, "Yeah, you almost killed everyone."

"What happened?" the other girls asked curiously, evidently, not even Demi had heard this story.

"Oh I remember this," Joe said musingly, "it was during the tour."

"Yeah, I tried it and it was weird. Usually, I can go like a couple days without eating meat, not on purpose, but just because I had a salad or pasta instead those nights. But when I was purposely avoiding meat, I felt like it was everywhere, just mocking me."

"It was hilarious," I said with a grin. "It got to the point where she was basically yelling at the food. Everyone thought she was going insane."

"Well it didn't help that you ate a hamburger or a nice piece of steak every night just to spite me."

"I did do that, not going to lie. I apologize for throwing my good food in your face."

She just rolled her eyes, "Anyway, it was horrible. I was a wreck for three days straight before I finally cracked and stole Nick's lunch."

"And I got twenty bucks from Joe."

"You what?" she asked while staring pointedly at me.

"You see Miles, we had this bet going. I said you would be able to last a week, but Nick only gave you three days. Apparently he knew you better than I did."

Miley smacked my shoulder and I winced. That girl sure knew how to hit a guy. "I can't believe you didn't have any faith in me!"

"Well…I mean, I was right; you only lasted three days. I think I was right to not have any faith in you."

"I'd like to see you try and be a vegetarian. It's harder than you think."

"I already have diabetes, that's enough restrictions on food for me," I replied jokingly. It went quiet though; it was a type of silence that I couldn't explain. It wasn't awkward or anything, but it wasn't comfortable. I coughed uncomfortably, "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's fine Nick," Miley said softly. She lightly squeezed my hand to let me know that she was here for me.

I smiled, but then caught my brother's knowing glance. I cleared my throat and gently shrugged her hand away. She seemed confused for a moment, but she pulled her hand away anyway.

A couple minutes later, Joe called to everyone. "Who wants to eat?"

The girls jumped up immediately and made a beeline for the barbeque. I just chuckled and followed behind them. We each got our own plate full of food and then sat down again. To remove any more temptation to be the least bit flirtatious with Miley, I went and sat down next to Kristen and Demi.

I could see the frown grace her face when I didn't sit down next to her, but I knew I couldn't worry myself with it. Joe was right, unfortunately; I had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend. We couldn't act the same way around each other as we had in the past.

"So, tell me about yourself," I said to the girl next to me.

"Well let's see…I grew up in a small town. My mum is a teacher and my dad is a dentist. I went to the junior college right in town and now I work for the local newspaper. That's basically my entire life, it's not too exciting."

"I heard that you had no idea who Miles really was until she told you, what's that all about?"

"That's kind of a lie to be honest."

"It is not!" Alexa exclaimed interrupting Kristen. "I had no idea who she was…"

"Haven't you watched _Hannah Montana_?" she asked knowingly.

"Well yeah, but I didn't know it was Miley in it."

"That's what I mean." She looked back at me, "I didn't put two and two together that the Miley that showed up in our town three years ago was the same one who was the star of that show or who was a cultural phenomenon."

"I didn't know you even knew my show…" Miley giggled.

"Oh trust me honey, I knew it. I just didn't watch it that much; I mostly stuck to my dramatic shows. You see all we really had to go off of was television and music. I never really paid attention to anything going on outside the world of fiction, it all seems pointless to me."

"As for me, I'm just clueless," Alexa grinned.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much…" Miley said sadly. "I wish you two could just move here."

"I totally would, not even kidding, but I have to take care of my mum. Patrick, my brother, took off. I'm the only one she has left," Kristen sighed. "If only you would have just stayed in England we wouldn't have this problem."

"Blame Demi and Joe! They are the ones getting married, the reason for my return to the states."

Lexi gasped, "Oh yeah, you two are getting married! Congratulations!"

Demi blushed, "Thank you. We're excited."

"I bet! Do you have everything planned out? Where are you having it? What does your dress look like?"

"Whoa, Lex, chill out. I think you just completely bombarded her with questions," Miley said with a laugh.

"Oh, sorry. I love weddings so much."

"It's fine. Things are coming along, it's all kind of falling into place, and it's nice. Though, I have to say that the fact that I'm famous helps a lot. I can basically have everything at my disposal which relieves a lot of stress."

"Well that's good. Where is it going to be? Here in Los Angeles?"

"Texas, actually. Both our families live there, plus it will be out of the public eye more. But you have to keep all of this a secret, not that you would tell anyone, we're trying our best to keep it from the press. We are even going so far as to leaking a false date and place of our wedding."

"Isn't that being a little paranoid?"

"Trust me, when you live in a world where the paparazzi follow you around just to get a picture of you chewing a piece of gum, you try and take all the precautions you can."

Alexa sighed in agreement, "That makes sense. I cannot even imagine going through that, living through that."

Miley jumped into their conversation, "It's hard sometimes, a lot of the times you want to kick people, but you know, I think we can all agree that it's worth it. Well, at least it is until we decide that living on the other side of the ocean is a much better deal."

"And even though you met these two wonderful girls, you just had to leave your best friend behind," Demi said, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

"I've already apologized a million times, Dem. I'm back now!"

"Thank god. Not having you around was horrible." Demi stood up and tried to clean up everybody's plates, but Miley stopped her before she could.

"No, you and Joe planned this whole get together, let me clean up."

"Miles-," she tried interrupting, but Miley wouldn't have any of it.

"Dem, no. Nick will help me, won't you?" she asked me with a smirk.

I chuckled and stood up, "Sure, I'll help you."

We each grabbed our share of the dirty plates and we met up in the kitchen.

"I like your friends."

She smiled, "They're good people, a little crazy though."

"I can tell. It's sweet though, I'm really glad that you met them." I began to scrape the extra scraps of food into the trash and then passed the plates to Miley who washed them.

She sighed and changed the subject. "Remember when we used to do this together? Whenever I went over to your house for dinner, our job was to do the dishes, it was actually relaxing."

"If you call getting pruney fingers relaxing, then alright."

"Oh come on, admit it. It was fun!"

I grinned, "Yeah, it was fun. I even remember that time where we got into the water fight and we were throwing water and soap bubbles at each other?"

"And your mom came in and yelled at us and then laughed and told us to clean up? Yeah, of course I remember. That was a good night."

"It definitely was."

After finishing the last of the dishes, she sighed and leaned up against the counter. "I missed you, you know, when I was gone. It was hard to force myself not to pick up the phone and call you every once and a while."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"Because calling you would mean that my little experiment would have failed."

"Experiment?"

"Yeah," she shrugged. "You, along with my life as a famous person, were pretty much the main reasons why I wanted to get away."

"Well it's good to know that I drove you out of the country," I replied sarcastically.

"That's not what I mean. It's just…you were my biggest tie to my life here. Talking to you again would mean that I failed, that I'm not as strong as I think I am."

I sighed, "Miles…"

"I know it's stupid, but it makes sense in my mind."

"I know it makes sense to you. All I can say is that I wish you would have called me."

She laughed softly, "And we're back to this?"

I stepped a little closer to her. "We just keep going in circles, don't we?"

Her breathing became shallow, but her body moved closer to me inch by inch. "Do you think we should stop?"

"I don't want to."

"Me neither."

Miley's lips were inches from mine; all I had to do was press mine to hers. One little movement and I could taste her again.

Our lips touched together and it was like I was finally home, I was finally where I belong; she tasted the same way I remember, it was very comforting.

But of course our 'magical' moment was ruined, like it always was.

"I'll be walking into the room in five seconds!" Joe called from somewhere outside the kitchen. "I hope I don't walk into anything fishy!"

We jumped a part immediately and Miley was blushing furiously. Still, she managed to roll her eyes at my older brother's antics.

He walked in with his eyebrows raised and looked back and forth between the two of us. "What's going on in here?"

Miley and I glanced at each other and then both said the same word.

"Nothing."

_**~xoxo~**_

**I sense drama coming up. Hahahaha. What do you think? Please review. It would mean the world to me. :)))**

**And thank you so much for all your responses to my one-shot. I was so happy that you guys liked it!**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	19. Chapter 19

_**Sorry for the late update. Happy New Year everyone. :) I hope that your 2011 has started off well so far.**_

_**~xoxo~**_

"Joe, I have an idea."

"And what idea would that be little brother."

I rolled my eyes. "I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"What? Little brother?" he chuckled, "Now I'll make sure to call you that for the rest of your life."

Sitting down on his couch, I sighed, "You just love to make my life miserable."

"Nah, it just sort of happens. So, are you going to tell me your idea or are you going to make me force it out of you?"

"What if we had a Halloween party? You know, we could host it and stuff. Everyone could dress up or we could make it a masquerade party or something."

He looked at me with a confused expression on his face. Finally, he said slowly, "Is this your idea or Selena's?"

"It was mine…but why do you think it was my girlfriend's?"

Joe burst out into laughter and it wasn't stopped by my continuous attempts to make him stop. "Sorry…sorry. It's just that your 'idea' is so…girly. No offense or anything but I definitely would have bet one hundred bucks that a girl came up with it."

"Well thanks."

He snorted, "Seriously though, a Halloween party? A masquerade party? Really?"

"What's wrong with throwing a party? I didn't call you an idiot when you wanted to have a St. Patrick's Day party."

"That's because on the seventeenth of March you're supposed to drink all day and actually _party_. It's fun."

"So are you going to help me or not?'

He shrugged, "Why not? I could use a good laugh."

"Ha. Anyway, I was thinking that we could maybe get the girls involved. You did say that this was a girly idea."

"The girls?"

"Yeah, you know…Demi and uh, Miley I guess."

"Hey! I know why you wanted my help now. You're too chicken to talk to Miley so you came up with this Halloween party idea and then you're getting me involved so I can get her involved."

"You know, you're a lot smarter than people give you credit for."

"So are you going to tell me what happened between the two of you yet? Or are you going to keep pretending that I have no idea what really happened?"

"What do you think happened, Joe?"

"You guys made out, duh. It was written all over your faces when I walked into the kitchen."

"Are you going to yell at me now for cheating on my girlfriend and getting back into things with Miley?" I asked slowly.

"It's your life, do as you please. Just be careful, you don't want it to come back and bite you in the ass."

Suddenly a voice rang through Joe's house that startled the both of us. "Joseph! Are you home?"

"I'm in the living room!" he called back.

I heard footsteps pad down the hall and then Demi appeared around the corner. And she was followed by…Miley, of course Miley would be with Demi and of course Demi would choose today to visit her fiancée.

"Hey honey…oh. Nick, uh, great to see you. Um, what…what are you doing here?"

"I'm visiting my brother, Dem. What are you doing here?"

"I'm visiting my fiancée," she said shortly.

"This is definitely awkward…" Miley said quietly.

Unexpectedly, Demi punched me in the shoulder. "This idiot made it awkward in the first place. You can't go around kissing other guys girlfriends, especially when you have a girlfriend yourself!"

I winced from her hard punch (because believe it or not, Demi had a strong arm on her). "I'm guessing Miley told you."

"No shit."

"Why are you only yelling at me? Miley was obviously a part of it too."

"Oh trust me, I've already had a long talk with her and now it's your turn."

Miley nodded, "I thought I wasn't going to get out alive."

"Dem, lay off of him," Joe said gently. "Let him fuck up his own life."

"Wow, thanks Joe," I deadpanned.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled. "Demi, Miley, we have been recruited by Nick himself to throw the best Halloween party of the year."

"I never said it was going to be the best party of the year," I interjected quickly.

He waved my comment off. "I don't do anything halfway. If you really want to have this party than it will be the best, no exceptions."

"A Halloween party? That sounds awesome!" Miley exclaimed excitedly to me. "What do you have in mind?"

I had to admit that I was surprised things weren't awkward between Miley and I. Maybe it was me that was always awkward.

"Uh, well…" I said slowly, "We could make it a costume party or something. We could invite all our friends and stuff. I know my contact list is full of people who love to party."

Demi raised her eyebrows. "People who _love_ to party?"

"Come on! It will be fun."

Miley nudged her best friend, "Come on. It totally will be fun. Everyone can get together again."

Demi looked at her in disbelief but sighed anyway. "Fine. It does sound pretty fun," she smiled. "So besides costumes and inviting all our friends, what else do you want to do?"

I looked at her in confusion. I hadn't really thought about what we would actually _do_, I just wanted some time with Miley. "Um, watch television?"

Joe grinned while Demi and Miley just simply gawked at me in disbelief. The girls finally got over their incredulity at my statement to answer me.

"Really? You want to entertain fifty guests by having them all watch television for three hours?" Demi asked skeptically.

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a minute. First of all, fifty guests? I was thinking more like twenty; at the most that is. And three hours? There is no way I'm letting people into my house for that long."

Miley giggled, "Nicky, I think Demi was speaking on terms of the minimum."

"Then what do you mean?" I asked my future sister-in-law.

"Well…" she said leisurely, "hopefully we get more than fifty people. We could probably cram at least seventy-five into your house, maybe a hundred. I know that's only about a quarter of _my _contacts. And three hours is a fine party, but if we're going to throw one, we're going to search for something a little better, or a lot better."

I rubbed my temple. "This no longer seems like a good idea."

"I'm excited for it now, so we're definitely going through with it," Miley replied very eagerly.

"I think we should have it my house," Joe said. "After all, everyone knows that I'm the real party animal here. It only makes sense to have it here."

Demi rolled her eyes, "Alright Joe. It will be at your house. Now considering Halloween is in one week, we better call everyone today. So why don't you guys make your lists and I'll deal with calling everyone?"

So that's what we did. It took Demi a little over two hours to make what seemed like two hundred phone calls. In fact, I think that it was somewhere around two hundred people because the lists of people we all gave her were huge.

Miley and I fooled around during that time even though we were supposed to be coming up with ideas. Joe joined us every once and a while, but for the most part we were free to be on our own. I know that Demi didn't like that too much though; I could tell from the constant dirty looks she was sending us while she was on the phone.

"Okay, I finally finished. Half the people I called are for sure coming. And the other half said they would check their schedules and get back to me. Only a few people said that they were definitely not coming."

"Sounds great!" Miley grinned.

Demi looked at Miley and then noticed her proximity to me. She frowned and replied, "Miles, can I talk to you for a minute?"

She sighed, "Yeah, sure."

Demi pulled her into the kitchen to talk and I couldn't help but follow. Joe shook his head at me. "Dude, don't eavesdrop on them. Dem won't be happy if you do."

I waved him off and quickly shushed him. I creeped around the corner and realized that their conversation had already begun.

"Come on Dem, we've been through this."

"Miley! You have a fucking boyfriend, or do you not remember?" she exclaimed.

"I do remember, but I also remember that Nick is a very good friend of mine."

"You two kissed. You've been having _moments_ left and right since you got back. Trust me honey, no one understand your relationship with him more than I do and nobody loves you two together more, but there comes a point where even I have to intervene."

I saw Miley roll her eyes. "The kiss was a mistake. We both get that and we're not going to let it happen again. Friends kiss all the time and it never means anything!"

She looked at her best friend with a soft smile on her face. "You and him…it always means something."

"Well it means nothing this time. It was just an innocent kiss between two old friends."

"Innocent? What's going to happen when Nate finds out, huh? And even if you can somehow convince him that the kiss was one-hundred percent innocent, what about Selena? She's been the third wheel in your relationship before. I don't think that she is going to take too kindly to this little incident."

"She just won't find out," Miley said in a voice that she tried to keep as level as possible. "And as long as no one tells her, she never will, right?"

Demi paused, "Fine. If it happens again Miley…"

"It won't. I promise."

She sighed and I saw her look towards where I was hiding out, "Okay. Nick, you can come out now."

My face flushed in embarrassment and I stepped out from behind the wall that I thought had kept me well hidden.

"Uh, hey guys," I said sheepishly, with a small wave.

Demi chuckled, "I'll let you guys talk. Don't get too friendly with each other though, I'm right down the hall."

She walked away, giving me a nudge in the shoulder as she passed.

Miley hopped up on the counter, swinging her legs and cocking her head in a way that made her look seductive even though I knew she wasn't even trying. "We kissed and now we're being babysat by our friends. Life sucks."

I copied her movement and got up on the counter across from her. "Eh, it's not too bad if you ask me."

She giggled, "So, about that kiss. It was a mistake, right? We agree on that?"

I cleared my throat, "Yeah; um, a total mistake. We were just caught in the moment, that's all."

"Just caught in the moment…that definitely describes us, don't you think?"

"It does. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing though."

Miley shrugged, "I'm pretty sure it's a good thing. Nick?"

"Yeah Miles?"

"Your Halloween part-,"

"_Our_ party, don't forget," I interjected.

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Anyway, you know that I'm bringing Nate as my date, right?"

I felt myself slightly choke on the air in my throat and I only got out a small, "Oh?"

"I mean, I thought that you would have figured, but I just wanted to let you know for sure. I didn't want to spring it on you."

I kept in a groan. "Yeah, it's no problem at all. I'm bringing Selena, so it all works out."

"Oh good. I guessed that you'd bring her. I'm actually surprised that she's not here planning the party with us."

"She was busy."

"Because that just clears it all up."

"All I know is that she's busy. She's trying to get some more roles so she's been going on a lot of auditions lately."

"Well good for her," Miley said slowly.

"I know you don't like her, so it's not like you have to pretend to around me. I can handle it, you know."

She shrugged, "I may not be her biggest fan but that doesn't mean that I don't want her to succeed. I think it's great that she's getting back into the business; she's a fantastic actress."

"That's nice of you to say."

"Speaking of Selena, you're not going to try and be all noble and tell her about what happened, right? Because Demi's right, she'll be really hurt and probably kill me. Plus, I don't want her to upset or sad."

"No, I swear I won't tell her, you have my word. What about Nate though? Are you going to tell him?"

"I haven't decided yet. Probably not though, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Nate's a really good guy; I mean, an innocent kiss shouldn't hurt him so why tell him, right?"

"Yeah…you know what I just realized?"

"What Nick?"

"Your boyfriend has the same name as the character I played in Camp Rock."

She just stared at me. "Ha. You're very funny."

"What? You didn't realize it?" I chuckled.

"I do admit that the irony was not lost on me, but it doesn't matter. He shares a name with a character you once played, so what?"

"I'm just saying."

"You're impossible, come on. Let's go help Demi finish up the plans for _your_ party." She hopped down from the counter and sauntered out of the kitchen.

I just shook my head and called after her, "It's _our_ party Miles!"

_**~xoxo~**_

**Review?**

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	20. Chapter 20

**_~xoxo~_**

I was hanging out upstairs with Demi before the party trying on different costumes. We had taken over Joe's guest room; the both of us had at least five costumes a piece strewn throughout the room.

"What about this one?" I asked Demi. I had tried on a batgirl costume and now my best friend had final say, just like I had final say on hers.

She shook her head and made a face. "Too slutty. What about mine?"

"It covers up too much."

"Damn. That's what I was afraid of. Well…" she picked up another costume from her pile, "what about this one? I think it's perfect."

"You'll have to try it on. I don't really know what it's going to look like on you," I laughed.

"Good point." She picked up another random outfit from my pile and through it at me. "Try this one, I think it will look good on you."

The two of us both quickly changed and immediately I knew she had found the right one. I wasn't so sure about mine, but the huge grin on her face suggested that it looked good on me.

"Yours is perfect!" we both exclaimed at the same time with giant smiles on our faces.

I had on a Greek goddess costume that perfectly fit all my curves and showed just the right amount of skin so that I didn't look like a slut or a nun.

Demi on the other hand was dressed in a fairy-like outfit. It was light blue with sparkles, landed just above her knees and was strapless.

Both our costumes would look even more flawless when paired with the right heels and accessories.

An hour later we were welcoming our friends into Joe's house and Joe was pretty much nowhere to be found. Luckily he had helped us set up, along with Nick, but then the boys disappeared, even though this was just as much their party as it was ours.

"Miles…where are Nick and Joe?" Demi whispered into my ear. "People are wondering where they are."

"I have no idea," I whispered back. "Maybe they went to get costumes or something."

She groaned, "They better come back soon."

I nodded as she walked away to go talk with other people. I laughed at her inability to just let things go when it came to Joe, but I guess I could see why she was the way she was when it came to him. I could just laugh everything he did off because we were pretty much best friends but when he was your fiancée, I guess I could see trying to keep him in line.

I saw that Selena had just arrived and I decided that I might as well go and talk with her; after all, I was trying to be friendlier to her.

"Hey Selena!" I said sweetly walking over to her.

"Hi Miley."

"So where's Nick? Demi's been looking for him since this whole party was practically his idea anyway."

"I actually have no idea. He's been spending more time with you lately then with me," she said. I could hear the bitterness creep into her voice.

I replied slowly, "We've just been planning this party for the past week, we've got caught up in it."

"So I've heard," Selena replied shortly.

I raised my eyebrows at her tone. I mean, I couldn't really get mad at her because I still felt bad for kissing her boyfriend (not that she needed to know that), but that didn't stop me from being surprised by the way she spoke to me.

"So um, Nick says that you're going on a lot of auditions and stuff?"

It was her turn to be surprised. I bet she thought that I'd take her bait and 'fight' back. I had more class than that, believe it or not.

"Actually yeah," she said brightly, her attitude changing dramatically. "Most of them have been for movies, but also a couple for some pilots of new shows coming up."

"That's pretty exciting."

"Yes, very exciting…"

Thankfully, my wonderful boyfriend, who had chosen that moment to walk through the door, saved me from the extremely awkward conversation.

"Nate!" I exclaimed waving him over. He grinned as soon as he saw me and walked over. Trailing behind him was a girl that I'd never seen before; definitely not someone I invited. Maybe she was one of Demi's friends.

"Hey baby," he smiled, giving me a kiss.

"Hi," I smiled. "You actually dressed up, I'm proud of you."

"Well I didn't want to stick out at a fancy Hollywood party, so I decided that a pirate costume would be best. I'm Johnny Depp," he chuckled. He gave a dramatic twirl in his costume.

"I think you look handsome, even hotter then Mr. Depp."

"That's definitely a compliment, right?"

"Absolutely," I smiled, kissing him again.

"Oh my god Natie, I love her already," the mystery girl squealed.

I peered around my boyfriend and looked at the random girl with raised eyebrows. "Uh, hi?" I said in confusion.

"Oh sorry Miles, I'd like to introduce you to my sister, Hanna," Nate explained. "She's the crazy one I was telling you about."

"Oh! Hi! I'm so sorry, I didn't know who you were," I said, trying to cover up my embarrassing slip-up. "I'm Miley. Nice to meet you."

Hanna shook my hand enthusiastically, "Hi! I like seriously can't believe I'm even talking to you right now, let alone that you're dating my brother. That's insane. You were my total role model growing up and now I'm meeting you in like a casual situation and oh my god."

I had to say that I was shocked by her personality. She was…almost exactly like me. Crazy, fun-loving, full of energy; I immediately loved her.

Nate jumped in, thinking I was overwhelmed by her, "Sorry, she gets really excited about things really easily."

I ignored him though and exclaimed, "Can I hug you? Please?"

She laughed and nodded so I engulfed her in a hug.

"I told you she'd love me," Hanna said to her brother, sticking her tongue out. I giggled because that is exactly something I'd do.

I heard a small cough behind me and I turned to see Selena still standing there awkwardly. I didn't mean to ignore her; in all honesty, I thought she'd go hang out with her friends, she probably knew everyone here and was friends with half of them.

"I'm going to go hang out with Jen and David. If you see Nick, please tell him where I am."

"Yeah, sure. Good luck with the acting gigs," I said nicely.

"Thanks Miley," Selena answered back and then walked away.

After she left, Hanna started cracking up. "Oh damn, I can still sense the tension before you two."

"You feel it too?"

"Miley, even I can feel it," Nate chuckled. "Why don't you guys just work things out?"

I exchanged looks with his sister and then we both turned on him. "Did you really just ask that?" I asked him, semi-seriously.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Oh honey, you have so much to learn about show business politics. Especially when it comes to Disney."

"Yeah big brother, all the drama and gossip that went along with the Disney stars was my form of entertainment growing up."

He rolled his eyes. "You guys are being too dramatic. I doubt it was that bad."

"I had to live through it!" I exclaimed. "Trust me, it was bad."

"I still think you're exaggerating."

"Miley, don't listen to my brother, he's an idiot."

"Thanks Hanna, I'll be sure to remember that in the future."

She scoffed and decided to ignore him. "So Miley, do you maybe want to introduce me to your ultra-famous friends?" she asked excitedly.

I laughed, "Sure. Nate, are you going to be alright on your own for a little bit?"

"Oh yeah. I'll just go hang out with…Miranda Cosgrove over here. Oh, and look, Drake Bell. I'm totally good."

"I'm just going to ignore your sarcasm and leave. I'll see you later babe," I said cheerfully and I reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Hanna linked arms with me and dragged me off in the direction of the nearest celebrity, and considering almost all our friends are celebrities, she couldn't really decide where to go.

"So I have a quick question for you."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Growing up, I was a huge fan of you and all that shit. And I totally still am and stuff, but I was also a huge fan of Niley. Don't get me wrong, you and my brother are mega cute together, but like, I can't help but love you and Nick."

I paused, "First of all, there was no question in there. And second of all, are you telling me to break up with your brother and date Nick?"

"You didn't let me finish!" she laughed. "Basically, my question is, would you get together with Nick if you had the chance?"

I shook my head. "I'm definitely not answering that."

Her mouth dropped open and she folded her arms across her chest stubbornly, "Seriously? That's all I get? I'm eighteen years old and I've been in love with your relationship with Nick since I was twelve."

"And I'm dating _your brother_. Yet, you're trying to get me back together with my ex-boyfriend. You are seriously the most messed up person I've ever met."

She waved me off, "I've heard that plenty of times. I'm sorry; I guess I still haven't gotten over your relationship with him. Which, I know, sounds ridiculous, it's just…when you grow up with something, and love something, it's very difficult to let it go."

"Well you're going to have to Hanna, because I'm with your brother and I'm no longer with Nick and you're just going to have to deal with it."

"Fine," she replied rolling her eyes. "May I still keep my opinions though?"

"Only if you keep them to yourself," I said shortly, letting her know that the conversation was no longer up for debate.

A couple minutes later, after introducing her to many of my friends, I was looking for Demi with Hanna still trailing behind me.

"Do you hate me yet?"

"What?" I laughed, "Why would I hate you?"

"Because I'm pushy and annoying, not to mention that I tend to butt my way into other people's business. Nate says that people hate me as soon as they know me and then it takes them a little while to come around. I yelled at him the first time he said that and then I actually thought about it and realized that he was completely right."

"I don't hate you Hanna, I promise. You were a little pushy, but I've definitely dealt with worse before. Don't worry about it."

"I still feel bad…"

"Please honey, don't feel bad. Why don't I introduce you to Demi?" I asked, trying to cheer her up.

"Oh my god, really? That would be amazing!"

I giggled. "Okay, she's right over there with Joe. Did you hear that they're getting married in a couple of months?"

"I've definitely read about their engagement in every magazine known to girl. You're the maid of honor, right? Where are they having the wedding? What does your dress look like? What does _her_ dress look like?" Hanna was talking about a mile a minute and I was getting overwhelmed again. As much as I loved her, she was certainly a piece of work.

"Hanna, sweetie, why don't you slow down just a little bit?"

She frowned and apologized quickly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Sorry."

Determined to change the subject (and to hopefully channel some of Hanna's excitement onto Demi). "Dem! This is Nate's little sister," I said, introducing the girl.

"Oh hey!" she smiled, "What's your name?"

"Oh my…hi! I'm Hanna."

"Right…I think Miley mentioned you a couple of times. You have an older sister, right? Brooke, I think?"

"Yeah, she's the overachiever of the family. I'm the slacker."

She laughed, "Does that mean your brother is here?"

"Yeah. We left him alone over by the door," she replied, "He's probably chatting up some movie star as we speak."

"Well I hope he has a good time. This party was kind of put together at the last minute, but I think we did an okay job."

"Are you kidding me? This party is fantastic! And I've only been here for like ten minutes."

Demi giggled, "So I love your costume! Where did you get it?"

"Oh this?" she asked, giving a quick twirl in her simple, extremely creative costume. "I actually made it."

"There is no way that you made that," she replied in disbelief. "That's amazing."

Hanna blushed, "I just dabble in fashion. I've always loved it and I used to design my own clothes back in high school. It's like a hobby for me."

"Have you ever thought about pursuing it as a career?"

"Eh, I'm not really focused enough to have fashion be my career. Nate can totally vouch for me, I'm one of the laziest people you will ever meet."

"Can I please give your information to a designer friend of mine? Her name is Holly Giradoni, I bet you've heard of her."

Hanna's jaw dropped and her eyes lit up. "Are you serious? You would really give _the_ Holly Giradoni my number? I might think that I'd be terrible doing anything other than partying, but even just talking to her is a dream come true."

"Of course I'll give her your number. I'm actually meeting up with her in a couple days to discuss her spring line that's going to come out. I'll talk to her then."

"Thank you so much. I'm freaking out on the inside and trying my very best not to scare you away." Hanna was very close to jumping up and down, close to bouncing off the walls I would say. I laughed at her excitement and gave Demi a smile to thank her for her actions.

Unexpectedly, I felt a light touch on my shoulder and I turned to see Nick smiling down at me. "Hey Miles."

Demi and I took one glance at each other and then we both turned and hit Nick at the same time; she punched one shoulder while I punched the other.

"What the hell was that for?" he exclaimed, grasping his arms to the best of his ability.

"Where have you been? And the hell is Joe?" Demi shouted. "You just thought that us girls would take over the party? It was your idea in the first place!"

He looked at her with a sheepish grin. He gestured to the party and said, "It looks like it's going pretty well…"

""Yeah, Dem, cut him some slack," I laughed, wrapping my arms around him with a smile. "How can you resist his cute face?"

Her face softened but she rolled her eyes anyway. "When you two get together, you're impossible."

We both laughed because we knew how much her comment was true.

"So really, where is Joe, Nick?"

"At a strip club."

"You're so hilarious," she replied dryly.

He chuckled, "Nah, he's still fixing his costume. He wants it to be perfect for you."

"See, Demi? I told you that your fiancée is still amazing."

Nick finally noticed Hanna off to the side with a huge smile on her face. "Hi…?"

"Oh! Nick, this is Hanna. She's…she's Nate's little sister."

"Oh, right. Hi. I'm Nick," he said smoothly, sticking out his hand.

She shook it eagerly. "It's so good to meet you."

"You too," he smiled. I actually thought that he was handling the situation quite well, all things considered. I was glad, knowing the way his emotions sometimes went over the time.

"Oh, Selena was looking for you earlier. She wanted me to tell you if I saw you first."

"There was no catfight between the two of you?" he smirked.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a slight shove. "Shut up. We're working on things."

"Miley," a voice from behind me said, "I didn't think that you would actually leave me stranded."

I quickly shrugged Nick's arms out from around my shoulders and turned around to face my boyfriend with a guilty look plastered on my face. "Hi honey…"

He glanced at Nick and his face turned to a look that I'd never seen before. He almost looked…jealous? I coughed to clear the fine layer of tension that lined the room; I walked over to him and intertwined my hand with his. "I've been taking good care of your sister."

"She really has, Natie. I've succeeded in annoying her just like you say I do to everyone."

"Oh please," I said with a scoff, "You know I love you."

Her face lit up. "See! One person loves me!"

Nate chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug. "You know I love you little sis."

"Awwww. Aren't you a sweetheart?" she giggled.

I laughed along with the siblings, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Nick sneaking glances at the three of us every couple of seconds. Demi nudged him, which brought him back to reality. His face was bright red from being caught; thankfully for him, Selena walked up at that moment, saving him from having to explain anything.

"Hey! I've been looking for you," she said cheerfully, kissing his cheek.

"Oh sorry, Joe and I were busy. But I'm here now," he smiled, snaking his arm around her waist.

I smiled and gestured toward the new addition to our little circle. "Hi Selena. I swear I told him that you were looking for him."

"Oh I figured. I just saw him over here so I thought I'd come say hi."

"Well I'm glad you did." Nick leaned in for kiss and I was forced to watch them together. I couldn't help but feel the pang in my chest, no matter how much I tried to ignore it.

All of a sudden, I heard Joe come out of nowheredressed in none other than a superhero costume; yes, a _superhero_ costume.

Demi's eyes went wide and then all of a sudden she was laughing, along with Nick and myself.

"What are you wearing?" I asked through my laughter.

"Uh, my costume. Duh."

I just shook my head and watched as Demi kissed Joe through her giggles. "I think you look handsome," she whispered.

"Thank you, baby," he said into her ear. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, reaching up for his lips again.

I faked a gag and grabbed Nate's hand. "Come dance with me. All these public displays of affection are making me sick."

He rolled his eyes, but followed me out onto the dance floor anyway. I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked back at my group of friends. Demi and Joe were still being the most adorable engaged couple at this party and Selena and Nick looked…good. Good together, I mean.

It really sucked that that single thought made me very close to being depressed.

_**~xoxo~**_

**Late update, I know. Don't kill me. School pretty much sucks right now. Review?**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	21. Chapter 21

_**~xoxo~**_

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Miley asked me over the phone.

"I'm actually not doing anything. What about you?"

"Oh what a coincidence! I'm doing nothing too," she exclaimed with a laugh. I could picture her sitting on a counter somewhere, flipping through some magazine, twirling her hair in that cute way that she does, and cradling her phone in between her shoulder and cheek while talking to me all at the same time.

I chuckled at the thought, because I knew that what I had pictured was exactly what she was doing. "What are you laughing at?" she asked curiously.

I cleared my throat and answered, "Nothing for you to worry about. So back to us both doing nothing tomorrow. What should we do about that?"

"Oh! Let's go surfing. Do you remember that you promised me you would teach me like forever ago? Well now we can kill two birds with one stone. You can keep a promise to me and we can both solve our problem of having nothing to do tomorrow."

"You want me to teach you how to surf? Like…seriously?" I asked incredulously. "I don't think that's a really good idea."

"You promised!"

"I definitely do not remember that at all."

"Well then I think you are suffering from selective memory loss, but don't worry. I can remember for you. Now, are we surfing tomorrow or what?"

I shook my head and sighed dramatically. "Well when you put it that way I don't really have a choice rather than to say yes, do I?"

"That was what I planned for," she replied happily. "Do you have a surfboard for me?"

"Now you're asking me for a surfboard? What more are you going to ask me for Miles?" I exclaimed jokingly. I laughed as she gasped in mock hurt.

"Excuse me? Maybe I'll just ask for more stuff. What about a wetsuit? Can you get me one of those because there is no way I'm getting into the ocean without one."

"Why don't you just go shopping for those things. I know how much you love to shop."

I could feel her rolling her eyes through the phone. "Are you kidding me? I don't know the first thing about surfing so I'd probably end up getting the wrong size. Or a pink surfboard _and_ wetsuit, just to spite you. How would you like surfing with a girl dressed in all pink?" she replied.

I paused at her statement and backtracked a little through the conversation. "Fine, I just happen to have a wetsuit that will fit you and an extra board. Thankfully both of them aren't pink."

"Thank you, Nicky," she said sweetly. "I think we'll have fun tomorrow, as long as I don't die. Wait, I won't die, right? Because that would seriously ruin my day."

"I promise I won't let you die."

She giggled, "Okay, I believe you. I have to go though, Demi and I have stuff to do for the wedding and since I'm taking tomorrow off when it comes to my maid of honor duties, I have to make sure we stay on schedule today."

"It's fine, I have to go too. Selena is coming over, we're going to have dinner here."

"That sounds nice," she said sincerely. "Have fun, eat good food."

"Oh I plan to," I laughed. "Bye Miles."

"Bye Nick," Miley replied before hanging up the phone.

As soon as we hung up with one another I sighed and looked around the room. I realized that I hadn't even planned anything for dinner, I wasn't even completely sure that I had any food to make dinner.

Suddenly, I heard my front door open and footsteps walking across my front hall and into the living room.

"I was driving behind the slowest person on planet Earth, I wanted to scream. You have no idea how happy I was when I finally pulled into your driveway," Selena exclaimed when she finally walked in. She went up to me and kissed me quickly before sitting down on the couch. "So what's for dinner?"

"Yeah…about that, I haven't really decided yet. I was thinking that you could help me whip something up."

"You want me to whip something up for you even though you were the one to invite me over?"

"No, I'm going to help you decide what to make and then I'll make it for you."

She laughed, "Fine. Let's go. Hopefully you actually have food, it seems like every time I come over here your fridge is empty."

"You can blame Joe for that. He just eats through all my stuff."

The two of us walked into my surprisingly clean kitchen and Selena began going through my cupboards and my fridge. "Well, you have pizza…and more pizza…oh, and cup of noodles."

I pretended to think through the choices but then I smiled and pointed to the pepperoni and sausage frozen pizza that was in the freezer. "Let's just have that. The frozen pizza I buy is to die for."

"To die for?" she giggled. "Well if it's really that good then we have to have it."

She handed it to me and then went to set the oven to whatever time that was printed on the box. "So I was thinking we could go looking for apartments tomorrow," she said slowly without looking at me.

"Apartments?" I replied distractedly, I was busy reading the pizza box.

She cleared her throat. "Well, yeah. We've been talking about it a little bit for the past couple of months and we don't have to commit to an apartment, but I think we should start looking now."

I finally looked up and my girlfriend's expectant face. "Wait a minute, you want to move in together?"

"Nick, we've talked about it. We've talked about it a lot."

"Of course we have, I just didn't think you wanted to really think about it this soon."

"That would be why I've been talking about it...I thought you wanted this too?"

"I'm sorry that you felt that way, but come on, we both have our houses and we're both comfortable where we are. Do you really want to change that?"

Selena looked at me in shock. "I can't believe you're even saying this right now. Nick, I want things to change. I want to move forward with you, not stay in the same place that we have been in for the past couple of years."

"Fine, we'll go apartment hunting if that's what you really want. But I can't go tomorrow so you're going to have to wait," I finally said. I was too tired to even argue with her, but I was sure that I wasn't ready to live with her. I wasn't ready to live with any girl for that matter.

"And why can't we?" she asked stubbornly with her arms folded across her chest.

"Tomorrow I'm teaching Miley how to surf. We already made the plans and I can't just cancel on her."

That's when she got angry. And I mean really angry, I really thought that she was going to hit me or something. Selena threw her hands up in the air and took a couple of deep breaths before speaking to me. "You're choosing Miley over me? Are you fucking kidding me? I thought that I finally had you for myself; I thought that I was done sharing you, but I guess not. I'll never be good enough for you, will I?"

"Selena, honey, calm down!" I replied alarmed. "How can you even think that you're not good enough for me? You are so much better than me, Sel. And I'm not choosing Miley over you and I'm sick of you bringing her up in every conversation we have. If you haven't noticed, you bring her up, not me, you."

"You are unbelievable," she said through clenched teeth. Selena took another deep breath and shook her head. "Nick, you still love her, it's so obvious that I can't even believe that you're trying to deny it. Everybody sees it, and I've been trying to look the other way and I've been trying to convince myself that it's just a phase and you're still hyped up over the fact that she's back, but it hasn't stopped yet!"

I rolled my eyes and placed my head in my hands. I just wanted all of this to go away; the fighting and arguing, all of it needed to stop. Selena scoffed, "Are you just going to sit there and ignore me?"

"I'm not trying to ignore you," I finally said. "I'm just trying to figure out a way to work through this with you without yelling."

"Well then maybe I should go, I mean, I don't want you feeling like you're going to yell at me." She grabbed her stuff from around the room and began to walk out.

"Selena, wait!" I called and followed her out to the driveway. "Please don't go. Let's just work this out."

"Are you still seeing Miley tomorrow?"

"If you don't want me to, I won't. I promise. I'll never speak to her again if that's what will make you happy."

She just looked at me and then looked down. Her eyes were trained on her hands as she refused to look at me.

"Selena, please. Please give me another chance."

She finally sighed and looked at me, "I'm not asking you to give Miley up, I know how close you two are and I know that you're best friends, but I'm just asking you to put me first, at least most of the time."

"I can do that, you come first. So tomorrow you and I can look at houses?"

"I feel like that is just going to lead to more fighting and I don't know if I'm up for that."

"Then let's just take a drive. You've been wanting to go to Santa Barbara, right?"

A small smile graced her face as she locked eyes with me. "Yeah, I have been wanting to go there. Are you sure you want to go with me?"

"Of course I do." I wrapped her in a hug and whispered in her ear, "I'd go anywhere with you."

She giggled, "I love you."

"I love you too," I said immediately, almost as if it were habit.

She nodded towards her car, while still wrapped in my hug. "I should still go."

"Are you sure you can't stay for dinner? I promise to make it really good."

"I really need to think over some things, Nick. I promise that it will make our drive tomorrow more enjoyable and tolerable."

"Well if you have to go…I'll pick you up tomorrow around ten?"

"That sounds good…bye Nick," she said quietly before climbing into her car and driving off.

I took in a huge sigh of relief and just stood there for a minute. I couldn't believe that any of that had just happened, let alone I got out with only a few scratches. Before I had any time to even think about it, I ran into my house and grabbed my car keys before getting into my car and pulling out of my driveway.

I went over the speed limit while racing to Joe's house. As soon as I got there, I tore out of my car and ran into his house without knocking. "Joe? Are you home?" I yelled.

He came out from behind a door and looked alarmed. "Nick? What's wrong dude?"

"Selena and I fought over Miley."

Joe just looked at me for a second and then chuckled. "You almost gave me a heart attack just to tell me that?"

"What do you mean 'just to tell you that'?"

"Oh come on, Nick. It's obvious that you love her and when I say 'her', I mean Miley."

I threw my hands up in the air and backtracked to where my mind has been for the past couple of years. "Are you fucking kidding me? You think this too? I don't love Miley; I love Selena. That's the way it is and you just have to accept that."

"First of all, you are the one who just came storming into my house saying that you think you love her and secondly, you're an idiot if you think you don't have any feelings for Miley anymore."

I sighed, "Why does no one believe me?"

"Because you're lying to yourself. I'm not one to go into mushy stuff that only girls can understand but I do know that you'll always feel something for Miley, it's just always going to be there, between the two of you. It's not like it's your fault though, it just happens to be there."

"Well if you're so convinced of this, please enlighten me on what I should do," I said, folding my arms over my chest in defiance.

He shrugged, "I'm not going to lie, you know that I think you and Miley belong together. I don't know why, but you guys just fit. So I can't really tell you what to do because you most likely won't like what I have to say."

"I'm just so tired of all of this. I don't know what to do or what to say…to anyone for that matter."

"Okay, let's just start from the beginning. What happened between you and Sel today that has got you this freaked out?"

"I don't even know man, she wanted to go house hunting or something tomorrow, I don't even know, but I had already made plans with Miley for tomorrow. So when I told Selena, she got pissed because she thought I was choosing Miley over her, which is totally not true, but she took it that way. And it just completely spiraled from there."

Joe chuckled, "You really told her that you weren't going to go _house hunting_ with her so that you could go out with Miley? Smooth Nick, real smooth."

"Hey!" I exclaimed in defense. "I fixed it! Well, I mean I sort of fixed it, but we're hanging out tomorrow."

"You and Miley?"

"No. Selena and I."

"Oh…well then have you told Miley yet?"

"I was getting there eventually…"

"You need to text her now, Nick. You have to choose between the two and you can't go back and forth."

I rolled my eyes, "I definitely have chosen Joe, thanks though for the support."

Joe snorted, "You definitely haven't. I mean, you say you have and for a while I thought that you might have, but then you do stuff like this that just makes me question everything. That's why you need to set things straight right now because it's not fair to either of them."

I sighed and slowly reached for my phone that was in my pocket. "What do I even say to her? She's going to hate me when I cancel."

"Right now you have to choose a side and I think, at least for now, it needs to be Selena."

I nodded and began typing:

_Miles, something came up and I can't make our plans tomorrow. Maybe we can reschedule for another day. Sorry._

I hesitated before finally pressing send and closing my phone.

After a while, Joe said, "It is good that you sent it, you know."

"It's funny because it definitely should not be this hard. I should just be able to pick a girl and get over it."

"You always were the sappy one," he laughed. "You might even have Kevin beat."

"Now that's a scary thought."

My phone buzzed a couple minutes after I had sent the text to her. I flipped it open and read:

_No problem Nicky. I'm sure we can do it some other day. :)_

I groaned and rubbed my temple in annoyance. I wish she would have gotten mad at me or something, but instead she had to be sweet and understanding.

"Now I feel like shit."

Joe chuckled, "No one said love was easy little bro."

_**~xoxo~**_

**Late update, I know. I made it long though, so hopefully that makes up for it a little bit. **

**Review?**

**Oh, baseball season started last week! Let's go Giants! ;)**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	22. Chapter 22

_**So I've had this done for a while...I just completely forgot to update. Sorry! Enjoy!**_

_**~xoxo~**_

"Nate, I'm really bored and I think you're at class, so call me back when you get this."

_Five minutes later…_

"It's me again and I'm still super bored and you're probably still at class so I'm going to go now."

_Twenty minutes later…_

"Naaaate, this is me being the annoying, clingy girlfriend who really wants her oh-so-amazing boyfriend to save her from dying of boredom. Anyway-,"

I heard a click on the line and then Nate's voice came across, "Miley?"

"Uhhhh…hey Nate…" I said slowly, "Did you get my other messages?"

"Yes I did, which is why I'm calling you back."

I cleared my throat, "I'm really sorry about all of those. As you can tell, I'm really, really bored out of mind."

He chuckled, "It's okay. I thought they were really cute. I'm sorry you're bored though; I thought you were supposed to go surfing with Nick today?"

"Oh yeah…he cancelled, so I'm just sitting at my house alone," I sighed.

"Wait, why did he cancel? When you called me yesterday, you made it seem like you both were totally excited for it."

"I don't even know. He sent me a cryptic text like an hour later saying something came up and he couldn't make it."

"I'm sorry Miles, why didn't you call me? We could have gone to lunch or something," Nate replied sweetly.

I waved off his comment, but after quickly remembering that he couldn't see me over the phone, I said, "You have classes all day, I didn't want to interrupt you. But that didn't really work obviously, considering that I called you about a thousand times."

"Well I only have one more class, but what if I told you we got a dinner invitation for tonight?"

I shot up out of my slouched position on the couch and eagerly clutched my cell phone tighter to my ear. "Oh my god, I will go anywhere if it means being with actually people and not my television."

"Okay well don't freak out, but my parents really want to meet you and they offered to cook us dinner tonight and everything. I was going to talk to you about it, but since you would have been surfing all day, I didn't want you to be too overwhelmed."

I smiled at his thoughtfulness, but that didn't mean I wasn't a little bit worried about meeting his family. It was one thing to meet Hanna, who was already obsessed with me so impressing her wasn't that big of a deal, but meeting his parents? Those were definitely scary waters.

"Miley?"

"Oh right, sorry. I um…" I trailed off in thought.

"Miley, it's seriously not a big deal at all. We can schedule it for another night when you're more prepared, I just threw this on you with no warning," he said softly in understanding.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. "No Nate, I really want to meet them. Please call your mom and tell her to expect us for dinner and ask if there is anything I can do."

"And you're sure?" he asked skeptically.

"Positive."

"Okay, I'll pick you up at six. Their house is about a half hour away so we have all that time for you to change your mind."

I really wished that he were standing next to me so that I could slap him upside the head for that comment, but I settled on laughter instead. "You're cute."

"Oh I know," Nate replied. I could just picture a smug smirk resting on his face. "I have to go Miles, I have class."

"Wait, call your mom first. And yes Nate, your mother is way more important than some dumb class on sociology and shit." I paused for a second and went over exactly what had just come out of my mouth. I had definitely spent too much time around television if I was talking like _that_.

"Did you just say 'some dumb class on sociology and shit'?" he asked incredulously. Apparently he had also noticed that I never talk like that.

"Shut up!"

"Shut up?"

"Goodbye!" I said haughtily, but before hanging up I quickly added, "Call your mother!"

I heard him chuckle before I ended the call. Ten minutes later my phone buzzed and I got the text:

_Called my mom, she's so excited to meet you. She said you don't have to bring anything but yourself. See you at six!_

I shook my head in laughter and turned up the volume on the television. An old rerun of _Boy Meets World _was playing and I settled myself into watching it. I had another two hours to get ready; there was no need to start now.

_**~xoxo~**_

"Miley!" I heard him call in exasperation from a different part of the house.

I rolled my eyes and called back, "Yes?"

"We have to go!"

"I'm almost done! Hold on!"

I sighed and went back to rummaging through my jewelry box, trying to find the pair of silver hoops that would work perfectly with my outfit.

"Ha!" I exclaimed when I pulled them out of the mess of different accessories. "There you guys are."

As I was placing them through my ears, I noticed Nate leaning against the doorway of my bathroom. "I knew you would end up being late," he chuckled.

"I'm a girl, I just can't help it." I picked up a pile of clothes on hangers and handed them to my boyfriend with a sweet smile on my face, "Hang these up, please?"

He rolled his eyes but took them anyway and I watched him disappear around the corner. "Is there any special place you want all of these?" he shouted.

"…In the closet?" I asked with a tone that was laced with 'duh'.

"Obviously, you dork. I mean is there any special place in the _closet_ that you want them."

I peeked my head around the door and said, "You're already calling me names and you've only been here, what, like five minutes?"

"Oh you know I don't mean any of it," he smiled. "Now where do you want them?"

"Shirts go where the shirts are hanging and the sweaters go with the sweaters. It's simple."

"Yet all I see when I look in here is confusion," he mumbled.

I giggled and pulled myself back into the bathroom. I made the finishing touches on my makeup and then walked back towards my boyfriend who was still having difficulties finding where I hung my shirts.

I laughed and took them out of his hands and threw them haphazardly on the bed. "Come on genius, we have a dinner to get to."

The entire car ride consisted of my happy voice carrying throughout the vehicle. I was trying my best to mask my nervousness. I had to be perfect in the eyes of his parents, absolutely perfect and I was determined to make them love me.

I jumped at the sudden contact of his hand squeezing my knee. "They are going to love you," he said quietly, probably sensing my internal conflict. I was grateful for his words and placed my hand on top of his.

"I hope so."

I watched as we pulled into the driveway of a very normal-looking house. There was a white-picket fence and everything. It honestly reminded me of Tennessee, I loved the simplicity of it.

"So you're _that_ family?" I giggled. "The stereotypical all-American family?"

"And proud of it, babe," he chuckled and grasped my hand in his.

Before we had even gotten to the doorstep, the front door opened and an older woman stepped out and exclaimed, "Nate, honey! You're here!"

His face lit up and he embraced the woman in a hug. "Hey mom," he laughed.

They pulled apart and then her attention turned to me. Out of habit, I stood up straighter and plastered a big smile on my face. "Hi, I'm Miley," I said and I stuck my hand out.

She ignored the hand though and pulled me into a hug instead. I was surprised for a second before I hugged her back. "Hi there darling, I'm Nancy. Why don't we go inside? Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes."

I smiled as we followed her into the house. Instantly, I smelt the amazing smells of dinner wafting in from what I assumed to be the kitchen. "It smells amazing, Nancy."

"Oh thank you dear, it's Nate's favorite dinner. I really hope you like steak."

"Oh I love it."

She grinned and turned when she heard another person walk into the room.

"Hey dad," Nate smiled. "This is Miley."

"It's such an honor to have a celebrity in the house," he chuckled while shaking my hand. "I have to admit though, that I was convinced Nate was making this whole relationship up."

"Oh dad, you know your little Natie would never, ever lie to you," a girl said with a smirk on her face as she walked into the room. "Hey little brother."

"Brooke, long time no see."

"Psh, I saw you last week."

"Oh I know, I was hoping for a little more time away from you. I was just trying to be polite," he chuckled.

She gasped in mock offense and punched his shoulder. "So are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend or what?"

He faced me and said, "Miley, since my older, smarter sister seems incapable of introducing herself, this is Brooke."

"Ignore my brother, hi Miley," she smiled and waved. Brooke was really pretty, in a subtle kind of way. She had long blond hair and soft blue eyes; she was pretty tall and looked like the typical 'grew up on the beach, tanned complexion type of girl'. I liked it though because you could take one look at her at instantly know that she wasn't shallow or conceited.

"It's so nice to meet all of you," I smiled. However, the entire time I was just hoping that dinner would be ready soon so that we could start talking like in all the movies. Just standing around the living room wasn't really doing anything for me.

Nate's mom coughed somewhat nervously and gestured to Brooke. "Sweetie, why don't you give Miley a tour while I fret over your brother."

"Okay! Follow me Miley."

I followed her down a hallway and then up a set of stairs. "I love this house."

She chuckled, "You don't have to be polite. I know you're used to mansions and many acres of land, but this is the best we have."

"Are you kidding me? I mean, in Tennessee I might have grown up on a lot of acres, but my house a lot like this, it was perfect."

Brooke paused and then said, "That's good to hear. Don't get me wrong, I grew up loving you, but I don't want my brother to get hurt. It's the same with my parents, they're not as…easily won over as my younger sister is."

I felt like I was just hit with a ton of bricks, but unfortunately, I knew that it was true. I knew that being in the limelight came with consequences, and I also knew that those consequences would follow me throughout my life. "I promise you, I don't want to hurt him."

"Oh I know you don't, trust me, I'm not an idiot. But you know, we have to be a little careful, he's my little brother, he's my parent's baby, and you always have to be careful. So I want you to promise me that if anything happens that makes you change your mind about your feelings for Nate, don't lead him on."

I simply nodded and we continued our tour of the house. Several minutes later, we both heard Nancy calling us from downstairs. "Girls! Dinner is ready!"

As we walked downstairs, Hanna came flying in through the front door. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" And then she noticed me standing awkwardly on the stairs and her face lit up with a smile. "Miley! I was really hoping you would be here!"

She ran over and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. "Hi Hanna," I laughed. "It's nice to see you again."

"Hanna Kathleen! Lower your voice in my house!" I heard Nancy yell from the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes, but lowered her voice to a normal octave. "Is dinner ready yet?"

"Yes Princess Hanna, your royal feast awaits you," Brooke said sarcastically.

She narrowed her eyes, "Oh shut up, Miss 'I'm so perfect'."

"O-kay," I said, attempting to diffuse the tension. "Let's go eat, shall we?"

We all sat down around the table and I looked down at the wonderful spread of food in front of me. "This all looks just so wonderful. Thank you so much for having me over tonight."

"We are so excited to meet you Miley. We've been begging Nate to have you over for ages. I was so excited when he finally caved," Nancy said smiling.

"So Miley, have you looked into any acting or singing opportunities recently?" Nate's dad asked me.

"Sean, you promised not to bring up anything work related."

"I'm honestly curious! Miley, you don't mind, do you? Because if you do, please tell me."

"Oh, it's fine," I said, waving him off and wiping my mouth before I began talking. "I actually have not really thought about it, to be honest. I love the business, but still, being away from all of it has just been so great."

"I just want to say how much I loved your show, Miley. It was so cute," Nancy said.

"I miss it so much some days. I always wish that I could go back to that point in my life, when everything was so simple."

"I think growing up is good," Brooke interjected. "You can't stay the same person forever, life would get boring."

"Oh please, only a person as boring as you would say something like that," Hanna said quietly.

"You'll never see how right I am because you will never grow up."

"Girls, no fighting at the table."

"Sorry mom," two voices echoed.

"Mom, Miley's friend Demi is getting married very soon, that's why she came back."

"You mean that sweet girl from that other television show? That's so cute. Are you the maid of honor?"

"Yes I am; I'm so thrilled for them. I couldn't stay in Europe anymore once I heard the news. But what about your family? Nancy, I hear you're a teacher?"

"Oh yes, I spend Monday through Friday every week trying to keep all of the nine-year olds in line. It's a big job."

"You know, I never understood how teachers kept all the kids in line. I know that I was definitely a handful in elementary school."

"Oh every day I just want to strangle every single one of them, but then by the end of the day, I realize how much I love them."

"And I spend my days putting away murderers, but I think my wife's job is worse," Sean chuckled while interlocking his hand with hers. I smiled at the simple, sweet gesture that occurred between the two elders.

I glanced at Hanna who was being strangely quiet. I hadn't known her for very long, but I knew her well enough that I knew she would usually be talking my ear off.

"Hanna how is school?" I asked.

She shrugged, "It sucks, but what else is new?"

Nancy sighed, "Hanna, please don't start with this."

"Start with what? Start with how much I hate my life?"

"We're not going to have this discussion while we have a guest over."

"Well considering you never want to have this conversation with me, I don't think having Miley here really makes a difference."

"Well it does to me," her mom snapped. "Now please, let's leave this be and we'll come back to it later."

She crossed her arms over her chest in defiance while I just sat there quietly and said, "I dropped out."

I watched as both her parents' eyes went wide and they were at a loss for words. "Excuse me?" her dad finally asked.

"I got an internship with the fashion icon of this generation, Holly Giradoni and I can't pass it up. This is my future, and I know that to you guys, college is what my future should look like, but that's not me. I'd be working full-time; I would have a lot of responsibility, which I think will be good for me. Plus, I talked to my course advisor and she said that if for some reason things do not work out, I can go back to UCLA and my time off can just be like deferring for a little while."

Nancy and Sean were still silent, their whole bodies were still and their minds were most likely going a mile a minute. However, that didn't stop Brooke from speaking up. "Are you really that _stupid_?"

Hanna eyes, lit with fire, cut sharply to her older sister. "I wasn't talking to you. I'm sorry not as perfect as you, I'm sorry that I'm not off at medical school, but I'm not you and I don't ever plan to be. What you don't understand is that I'm actually smart, I may not be your kind of smart, but I am smart. And I'm going to make it in this world with or without the support of all of you."

Her last sentence was directed at her family seated around the table. Brooke was sent into an unwanted silence, sitting there quietly stewing her anger. Nate just looked uncomfortable and sent me looks ever couple of seconds probably hoping that I would still talk to him after this. As for her parents, I could see that it would take a while for them to come to terms with the fact that they would soon have a college dropout as a daughter.

Unfortunately, they never go the chance to talk things over because Hanna immediately shoved her chair back when she realized no one was speaking and took off out the door.

Nancy sighed and buried her face in her hands as her husband gently rubbed her back. "Hanna is going to be fine sweetheart, you know that we've never really had to worry about her; she always finds her way."

"But this is exactly why I have to worry about her, Sean. She didn't even talk to us before she decided to quit school!"

Nate's dad glanced at me before whispering something in his wife's ear. She nodded quickly and wiped her eyes. "Miley, honey, I'm so sorry about all of this. This is probably not how you expected your night to go at all."

"Don't even think twice about it, seriously. I'm just happy to know that not all families are perfect."

She smiled and we all got back to eating our dinner, however, it was obviously tainted with awkwardness for the remaining hour and a half. Everybody's minds were occupied with the events that had transpired before.

Nate and I were walking to the door with his parents trailing behind us. "Thank you so much for having me. It was a really…interesting dinner, in a good way though."

Nancy laughed, "Well, I hope you can accept my apology about Hanna, we can't control her anymore apparently."

I waved her off, "I had a really good time despite everything. I just want to say, that even though I barely know her, I trust Hanna and her judgments. She seems extremely passionate about her new goals, and I truly feel like she's going to stick with it."

"Thank you. I really hope so as well, but considering its Hanna, I don't really know."

I nodded and looked towards Nate's dad, "Sean, it was very nice to meet you."

"You as well, Miley. You kids have safe ride home."

"Bye mom, dad. I'll call you later," Nate said while giving both his parents a quick hug (although his mom's hug was a little bit longer than 'quick'). He placed his hand on my lower back and guided me outside and to his car.

As we settled ourselves inside, Nate said, "So that's the real Hanna."

I shrugged, "I like her."

"You liked her little drama-queen outburst?"

"What can I say? I like a girl who knows what she wants. I didn't go to college, I followed my dream both in Hollywood and in Europe and I didn't need school to be able to do that."

"You're different! You're Miley, I mean, it makes sense for you, but Hanna needs school. We both know that it's not for either of us, but at least I know that I need to continue going so I can graduate and make of myself."

I just looked at him in disbelief before saying, "School doesn't define who you are; you define who you are."

"I just think she's making a mistake and I think she's going to regret it."

"And that's your opinion, however, I think she's going to do great. Whenever I meet someone who is as passionate as she was tonight at the dinner table, I know they're going to succeed."

He sighed, "But she hasn't ever even wanted to do fashion as a career before, she's only doing this to go to that internship."

I shook my head. "No, trust me, she's excited. It's a new experience and I think experiences are worth more any day."

Nate didn't say anything after that and I could tell that he was slightly upset over what I had said (probably because he knew I was right). I flipped open my phone to give me something to do and scrolled through my missed calls and messages. I noticed I had several from Demi that said, '_CALL ME NOW'_ and I had five missed calls from her, even though she only left one message

Alarmed, I went to listen to the message to hopefully find out what I was getting myself into.

'_Miles, I know leaving this on your voicemail is probably a really stupid idea, but there's been an accident. It's Nick. He's hurt. We don't know how badly yet, we're on our way to the hospital now. Just please call me as soon as you get this.'_

I just stared at the phone in my hand with my mouth open. "Oh my god."

_**~xoxo~**_

**The name of the fashion person was completely made up, I have no idea who the 'fashion icon of this generation' is, so I don't trust myself to come up with a real name. Also, I'm a firm believer in college, but I do agree that it's not for everyone right away.**

**Tell me what you think of Nate's family. :)**

**follow me on twitter/imagineyourlife**


	23. Chapter 23

**_~xoxo~_**

My body hurt all over; I felt like a truck had hit me. However, if my memory was correct, I guess technically a truck _had_ hit me.

The last thing I could really remember was hearing a screeching of tires and looking over my shoulder to see a large, black truck crash into the back part of my car and then I was spinning. I grabbed the wheel more firmly and just closed my eyes until it was over.

I can also remember briefly being awake when the paramedics were strapping me to the stretcher and loading me into the ambulance. One of the paramedics climbed into the back of the ambulance with me while the others closed the back doors. The last thing I heard before the paramedics closed the doors was, "You're going to be okay son, just hang in there; you're going to be okay."

I could hear voices floating around in the room. They were attempting to be as quiet as possible, but they weren't exactly succeeding. I decided to just stay still for a moment and just listen to everyone around me.

I could faintly make out Demi and Joe's voices, and then there was Selena's and my mom's. I don't really know how I was able to make out their voices, they were speaking in hushed tones and there were a lot of them, so it was difficult to keep track.

"So the doctor said it wasn't serious?" I heard Demi ask somebody in the room.

My mom answered, "He has a concussion and a lot of bruises and scratches, but other than that he should be okay. They want to keep him overnight though just to make sure."

"How is he not completely broken right now?" she asked, I could picture Demi's eyes on me and flooded with worry.

"The paramedics said that he was wearing his seat belt, thankfully. Plus, the police officers said that although he spun several times, his car never actually flipped over, so that really saved him."

I felt somebody's hand on my leg and I felt the bed dip down as someone sat on it. A small hand took mine in theirs and squeezed it. Immediately I could tell that it was Selena; unfortunately, that made me want to keep my eyes closed even longer. It was one thing to have your mother baby you, but totally another one to have your girlfriend do it.

'_You wouldn't mind if it was Miley,' _a small voice inside my head said. I inwardly groaned at the comment and tried to shake those thoughts out of my head without actually moving.

"He probably shouldn't be alone for a couple of days," Selena said quietly. Shit, I knew where that was heading. I just happened to know that she had a spare room at her house.

Thankfully Joe jumped in before I had to 'wake up' to insist that I was fine. "You're right Selena, he's going to stay with me, I already talked to my parents about it."

"Oh," she said awkwardly, "Are you sure? That can be a big job to take care of your brother when he's not feeling his best and you're trying to plan your wedding. I can take him."

"No, really, it's fine. We need more brother time anyway."

"Sweetheart, it's so nice of you to offer but he'll be fine with Joe. He probably won't feel as confined if they can watch sports all day, plus I'd just feel better if Joe was taking care of him. Not that I don't think you'd make a wonderful nurse, but I'd rather give the responsibility to Joe if I can't have him at my house."

She backed down at my mom's input and I could picture her nodding solemnly in my head.

I heard the door open (I don't know how I heard it, maybe the crash gave me superhuman hearing or something), and a voice floated through the air and into my ears. "Oh my god, is he okay?"

"Miley!" Demi exclaimed.

I decided that now would be a good time to open my eyes, it would be rude to stay 'asleep' when Miley was here. "Miles?" I said hoarsely.

I saw her, she was dressed somewhat fancy, but her eyes were filled with fear and worry and she had a sense of panic that filled the air around her. She walked over to me and gently threw her arms across my body. "Nicky," she said quietly in my ear, "you scared me to death. Don't you ever do that again."

I saw everyone in the room waiting impatiently to talk to me and I somewhat guessed that they knew I hadn't really been asleep for a while. Apparently, you were supposed to open your eyes as soon as possible in order to let everyone know that you're okay. My bad.

Still however, I couldn't help but focus all my attention on Miley. "What are you doing here?"

"Demi called me, I came as soon as I could." She traced my face with her finger and brushed the hair out my eyes. "You have no idea how scared I was."

"I'm fine, I promise. Apparently I only have a slight concussion and some bruises, nothing serious." I saw my mom's eyes darken out of the corner of my eye.

"Nicholas! You were awake that entire time? I can't believe you!" she yelled angrily. "I'm going to get a doctor." She left the room quickly and probably went screaming down the halls for help.

During that minute or so, Miley had still stayed by my side, fussing over me and I actually did not mind it. Maybe that stupid voice inside of my head was right for once. "You're staying with somebody right? You're not alone for a little while?"

"Yeah, I'm staying with Joe, Miles. Chill out, the crash wasn't even that bad."

She glared at me, "You say that now. What happens when you leave here and suffer from some sort of coronary embolism or whatever happens that makes you die and it was all because you thought the crash wasn't that bad?"

I stared at her in confusion. I honestly couldn't make out what she said right then, but luckily I got the gist of it. "I promise to make sure that the doctor checks that everything is fine with me before I leave. And just to warn you beforehand, I'm not staying with Joe forever, just for a week or two."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Miley said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at me with such a sharp glare that was just begging me to challenge.

Selena coughing loudly saved me from getting into a large fight with her. "I think I have more say in it than you do."

Miley shot her a confused glance and said, "I never said I had more say than you, I'm just looking out for him."

"Well maybe you just should leave the worrying to me, after all, I am his girlfriend. And what are you? His ex-girlfriend? Or the girl who just left without saying goodbye to him? Well guess what? That counts for nothing now."

I couldn't believe what had just come out of her mouth. Never before had I heard her actually stand up for herself or talk directly to anyone (especially Miley) like that other than me.

Evidently Miley was surprised too because she stood there staring at her for the longest time. Except, surprisingly, the look on her face wasn't one of anger or hostility like I expected it to be, but it was filled with surprise. On top of that, there was a slight sense of pride in what she had just heard that filled her eyes.

"Well, well, well look who's finally come out to play," she smirked. "It took you long enough. You still need to work on it though, you need more power and a touch of sarcasm and then you'll always win, like me."

I snorted, but thankfully it was quiet enough so that only Joe heard it and that was only because he was actually paying attention to me. I tried to stifle my laughter, but it was extremely difficult. I never thought that Selena would ever act like this, but I thought that if she ever did, she would at least shock everyone enough so that no one would argue with it.

Obviously I was very wrong, even though I should have counted on the fact that Miley would gain momentous amounts of respect for her, and then she would probably bury her alive. That's just the way sweet Miley was.

Selena's eyes went wide and she fiddled her hands nervously in her lap. "I'm not trying to win…" she said quietly.

"Sure you're not," Miley replied as sweetly as possible. "In case you haven't noticed, we are always out to win, whether you want to admit it or not is your problem, but we all know the truth. Plus, I was only giving a few pointers to you, you know, to help you for the future."

"I just want to know why exactly you're _here_. I want to know why you're acting like you have to defend yourself when it comes to Nick; you guys aren't together. So why are you here? Why can't you be with your boyfriend and leave me to be with mine?"

Miley scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Here's the thing, you don't own Nick and neither do I so the only difference between the two of us, is that you act like he's yours and yours only, but he's not. Now, I could pull the whole 'I've known him longer than you have' or 'I know him way better than you will ever wish to know him', but I don't out of courtesy to you."

"Courtesy to me? You never pass up an opportunity to make me feel like I am nothing more than your replacement."

That shut Miley up. She nodded once soberly and took a deep breath in. She didn't say anything for a while; the thoughts were spinning around in her head rapidly and they didn't seem to be stopping.

Finally, she said, "Well, I never meant to make it seem that way."

"Yeah, well…" Selena trailed off. She waited for a moment before turning to me and saying, "I'm going to go now. I'm not wanted here right now, I'll call you later."

"Selena-," I began to say, but she cut me off with a wave of her hand. She picked up her purse and left the room without another word.

"Well that was awkward," Joe chuckled. "Though if I had to bet money on it, I would definitely have Miles winning."

She raised her eyebrows but giggled anyway, "Thanks Joe. I'm hoping that's a compliment."

He shrugged and then turned back to me. "So mom is going to come in here in a minute with a doctor, so I was wondering how quickly you want me to get her out of here once the doctor clears you for the night."

I shrugged, or at least attempted to shrug (the pain made it difficult to do so), "Give her an hour or so of stressing over me and then you can kindly suggest that she go home. I'm guessing dad is at home right now?"

"Yeah, he left just a couple minutes before you woke up. He was going to stay longer, but he had to go home for something."

"Well then convince mom that dad needs her back at home."

"Have you really tried to convince your mom of anything?" Demi asked with a questioning tone that was laced with a laugh.

"Yeah, seriously," Miley agreed. "Denise isn't the most compromising person."

"You love my mom!" I exclaimed.

She laughed, "I never said I didn't. I just know that she gets her way, always."

"We'll just have to make sure that she doesn't this time," I said right as my mom walked back into the room with a doctor following behind her.

"Who?" she asked curiously, her eyes narrowing when the four of us immediately looked down and avoided her glance. Luckily, we were saved from any more questions when the doctor began to ask questions of his own.

"Hello Nick, I'm Dr. Hunter. I've been on-call since you came in so I'm familiar with everything that has happened. I'm just going to ask you a couple questions and then I'll leave you to rest."

I nodded and waited for him to continue, "So do you feel any sort of throbbing in your head? Any black spots in your vision or anything else off about your vision?"

As it turns out, the doctor's version of 'just a couple questions' turned out to be a lot more than I expected, but I answered each and every one of them militantly as I noticed my mom's glaring eyes on me every time I began to complain when he started in on another round of inquiries.

When I finally got the all clear for the night, I gave a pointed look toward Joe and he nodded and turned to my mom. "Hey mom, why don't you go home and get some sleep. I know dad would probably like to have you home."

She shook her head and remained in her place right next to my bed. "I'm good here, I don't want Nick to be alone."

I heard Miley sigh and then she tried to help, "Denise, I can stay here for the night. That way you can go home to Paul and Frankie and get a good night's sleep so then you can come right back here in the morning. I doubt you want to be at all tired when it's time to get him out of here."

She was quiet for a moment before saying, "Well…I mean, I guess I should be well rested for tomorrow and these chairs in here really don't seem all too comfortable. But are you sure that you're going to be okay here for the night?"

"I'll be fine, I promise," she smiled. "Now Joe can walk you down to your car and I expect to see you here first thing in the morning."

Denise laughed and gathered her things. "I'll be here bright and early." She gave Nick a quick kiss on the cheek and reached over to give my hand a friendly squeeze. "Be good kids, I love you both."

Demi looked to Joe and said, "It's getting late and I'm exhausted, I think we should head out."

"But…it's barely nine o'clock. You usually go to bed at eleven at the earliest."

"Yeah, but it's been a long day and I would really just like to get some sleep. So let's go, honey."

Joe looked confused. Evidently, he didn't realize her not-so-subtle ways of getting Nick and I alone. "But…"

"Joseph," she finally said sharply, "we're leaving." Demi then focused her attention on us and said, "We'll see you two tomorrow. Have fun."

"Oh yeah, because we can really have so much fun in a hospital room," I said sarcastically.

"Oh you know what I mean."

The two girls just laughed as they parted ways and then I said, "And now we're alone."

"And the party begins," Miley laughed. She then made herself as comfortable as possible on the chair that my mom had just left.

"So are you going to tell me why you're so dressed up? I hope I didn't keep you from anything."

"Oh, I just came from dinner with Nate and his family, I thought that I better look my best, you know, to make a good first impression."

I was surprised and it must have shown on my face because she awkwardly looked away. I tried to diffuse the tension by saying, "Well, how did things go?"

"Oh they went great!" she exclaimed with a little too much excitement in my opinion. "Well, things would have gone great if his little sister didn't announce that she was dropping out of school. So the dinner went well in regards to me, but overall, not so much."

"I'm sure they still loved you though, I mean, who wouldn't?"

She smiled and said, "Thanks, but I don't think I'm Nate's favorite person right now."

"And why is that?"

"Oh it's nothing, just on the way home Nate and I were talking and he got upset because I didn't think that Hanna's decision was really that bad, however, he did. We were just on two totally different wavelengths and it was our first fight and then I got Demi's message and I freaked out and-," but I cut her off before she could continue her ranting.

"Miles stop talking for two seconds. You two will make up and be fine again, just give him a day or two to come around."

"I just felt so disconnected from him then, like he didn't understand me at all. Nate kept saying how for me, it was okay to skip the whole college thing because I found my passion, but it wasn't okay for Hanna even though she found her passion too. And I don't know, I just felt attacked, but at the same time not really because he wasn't trying to attack me, but…and I'm rambling again."

I laughed, "You're going to be fine, it's going to blow over soon enough."

"I really like him, Nick, but I can feel it happening again."

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel the fear just engulfing me of what's going to happen next if I just let this relationship continue. I have serious commitment issues. I mean, look what happened with us, I just left you; I left an entire possibility of a future for us just because I was terrified of what was going to happen if I stayed."

I sighed, "Miley, you know just as well as I do that whatever path you choose to go in life, you are going to be fine. Plus, it's not like you knew I was going to propose to you."

I saw the hurt flash through her eyes when I mentioned the 'taboo' subject; I knew that while she was hinting towards it, she never actually wanted the subject of the proposal to come up. "I still shouldn't have left."

"Yeah well, you did." There was bitterness laced in my tone and I was sure she could hear it.

"I'm really sorry, Nick," she whispered softly, taking my hand in hers. "You have no idea."

I gently brushed the hair that had fallen on her face away from her eyes and I tucked it behind her ear. "You've already apologized to me," I breathed.

She moved slightly closer to me and intertwined both our hands this time. "I don't think it will ever be enough."

I leaned my forehead against hers and breathed in her scent. "I've already forgiven you. I'll always forgive you." _I'll always love you._

And then I kissed her. I'd been trying to hold back my feelings ever since she came back and now they all just came flooding out and I couldn't stop it. I was wrapped up in _her_; I never wanted to leave this moment. I somehow pulled her up so she was lying next to me on the hospital bed; I ran my fingers through her hair as she set her hands behind my neck and we continued to meld our lips together.

I couldn't help but realize how perfectly we fit into each other, her body resting next to mine. When we finally needed air and pulled apart, I whispered, "I missed you."

She sighed, "I missed you too…but-,"

"No buts, please, just stay here with me, just for one night."

"Nick…there's Nate and Selena and this is not good."

But as she tried to get up, I held her tight around her waist. "One night, that is all I'm asking for. Just one night to forget everything and be together; I just want you to lie here and forget reality for _one_ night."

I could see her struggling with it but I watched as she finally gave in and let me hold her. We stayed that way until I heard her breathing even out and she was resting peacefully in my arms.

Tomorrow was another day.

_**~xoxo~**_

**Review? :)**

**(Btw, I honestly did not mean to make Miley that mean to Selena...I promise all that will get resolved soon.)**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	24. Chapter 24

**_I promised myself that to celebrate the fact that I don't have to go to school for like two months (summer is pretty much the best idea anyone ever came up with), I would update. But then I sort of forgot so here it is twelve minutes to midnight, west coast time. :)_**

**_~xoxo~_**

The most perfect night of my life, that's what this was. That was all I could think about when I slowly opened my eyes the next morning. Nick's strong arms were still wrapped tightly around my torso and our legs were still tangled together; my head was rested on his chest and I could hear his slow, comforting heartbeat.

I wanted to believe that he began to stir because he sensed that I was awake, but I knew that was a far-fetched wish. As soon as we both realized we were supposed to be back in reality, everything would go back to how it was. Not that I really knew how that was ever going to happen.

"Hi," he said, his voice filled with sleep.

"Hey there sleepyhead," I giggled as I ran my fingers through his curls.

"How'd you sleep?"

I shrugged, "It's a hospital bed, so not so well, but you made a very good pillow."

"I'm glad I could be of service," he smiled down at me. He placed a kiss on the tip of my nose as I snuggled up closer to him. As we stayed wrapped up in each other on the bed, Nick began to sing My Girl, replacing appropriate lyrics with Miley instead.

I giggled and I listened to his beautiful voice whisk me back into the past. However, right as he was finishing the song, we both heard a small cough from the doorway.

I whipped my head around (Nick did the same) to see Joe standing there with a smirk on his face. "I knew I shouldn't have left you two alone last night."

"Oh my god, Joe," I said with wide eyes as I scrambled out of the bed. "How long have you been standing there?"

I attempted to smooth out the wrinkles from my clothes as he answered. "Well I showed up like a half hour ago and saw you two lovebirds nice and cozy and all wrapped up in each other and I've pretty much been standing here ever since."

My face had turned a bright red and I refused to look Joe in the eye. But I could still hear him laughing uncontrollably at catching us in the comprising position.

"Okay Joe, that's enough," I heard Nick say. I looked up and saw that he was rubbing the back of his neck, the thing he did whenever he got embarrassed.

"Don't worry though, I was planning on waking you both up before mom got here, I didn't want to put any thoughts into her mind. However, I was thinking about letting Selena walk in on this, now that would have been a good show."

I watched Nick pull one of the many pillows out from behind his head and he chucked it as hard as possible at his brother's head. Joe chuckled as he quickly ducked, yet he didn't have time to avoid the second pillow that was hurled his way. "Ouch," he mumbled.

"You deserved it," Nick said, crossing his arms across his chest.

He rolled his eyes, "Sure I did. Oh, and Miles, if I were you I would go freshen up; you know, make yourself look like you slept in a chair all night instead of a bed snuggled up next to Nick."

"Joe, another word about this and I promise that Demi won't have a fiancée to stand next to up at the alter when your wedding day arrives," I threatened while I made my way to the bathroom. I shut the door lightly and began to splash water in my face to get the sleep off of my face.

I paused, however, when I heard a new voice in the room. I thought that it was Denise at first, and I actually went to leave the bathroom and join in on the conversation, but then I pinpointed who the voice really belonged to. Selena.

"I'm really sorry about last night, Nick. I really didn't mean to blow up on you, it's just, she gets to me sometimes and I snapped last night. Anyway, I'm just really sorry. Oh, and I definitely should not have left like that, I should have stayed with you."

"Sel, it's fine. It's over and forgotten."

"Are you sure? Because you didn't deserve for me to do that to you and you didn't deserve for me to leave and you shouldn't be this okay with it."

"Trust me, there is no reason to forgive you because you didn't do anything wrong. I mean, you left for a reason, it's not like I blame you for that," I heard him say. I could hear the guilt in his voice; the tone that was pleading with Selena to stop feeling so guilty about something so minor when he did something even worse to her.

I finally heard her sigh and say, "If you say so. How did you sleep?" I could picture her caressing his face like I did last night; I felt my hands ball into fists and I had to stop myself from barging out of the bathroom and interrupting their moment.

Nick cleared his throat, "I, um, slept fine. These beds are really uncomfortable you know." He laughed nervously while I heard Joe snort at his comment.

"Well you'll be at Joe's tonight and I'm sure his beds are going to be a lot more comfortable, just maybe not as clean. You're sure that you want to stay at his house instead of mine? I have an empty room that you're welcome to stay in and you might be more comfortable."

"I'll be fine at Joe's, Selena. And I'm only there for a couple days anyway."

"I guess that is true…" she trailed off. I chose that moment to make my entrance back in the hospital room; the look on Selena's face was priceless. It went from surprise to anger with a flash of hurt and then back to pure anger. "What are you doing here?"

I faked a smile, "I'm just checking in on him."

She eyed me up and down before she gasped and her eyes narrowed, "You are in the same clothes from last night."

"Oh really?" I said with a pinch of sarcasm. "I had no idea."

"You slept here last night?" she exclaimed and then she turned on Nick, "She slept here last night?"

"Selena, calm down," Nick said, treading carefully.

"I'm supposed to calm down, Nicholas? Your ex-girlfriend slept here last night with you after we got in a huge fight over this entire situation just yesterday and you actually expect me to calm down?"

I sighed, I truly wasn't in the mood to witness this fight again, nor was I concerned with getting involved in it again like yesterday. "I'm just going to go."

"Oh Miley, you don't have to leave. I guess you were technically here first so you shouldn't leave the room just because I showed up," she snapped.

I threw my hands up in defense. "Don't worry about me, I have no problem leaving you two lovebirds to your little spat. Plus, I have a _boyfriend_ to get back to, remember?"

She rolled her eyes, but she continued to glare at Nick who was cowering under her gaze.

I giggled quietly, but said, "Bye Nick, I'll come see you at Joe's a little later. Feel better and make sure that Joe doesn't somehow end up killing you because I can see that happening…"

"Hey!" the older brother exclaimed once he had processed my words.

I ignored him though and watched as Nick gave me a slight nod accompanied by a smile and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

"Come on Miley, even though you definitely insulted me just seconds ago, I'll walk you out."

"Well aren't you a gentleman?" I smiled. I took my leave from the room with Joe following right behind. I could hear the argument continue between Nick and Selena even as I had already left the room.

"You know you two looked really cute this morning," Joe finally said after a while.

"I don't really want to talk about it, Joe. It shouldn't have happened, obviously, and it's not something that should be brought up again because people could get hurt," I answered quietly.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Miles. You know I love you, right?"

"Oh I know," a muffled giggle came out as I was tucked protectively to his side.

"I think Demi wanted to do wedding stuff today if you're up to it. Apparently I'm not good enough to make final decisions with; she needs a girl's opinion, but not just any girl, she needs her best friend's decision, which is you in case you didn't know."

"I actually did know that, the whole maid of honor thing tipped me off. Thank you though for the information."

"You're welcome," he chuckled. "So are you up to it? I have no idea what she had planned."

"Well me being her maid of honor immediately forces me to be up to anything."

Right after I answered Joe, my ringtone blasted through the quiet air. I lifted it to my ear and said, "Hello?"

"Miley! Joe sent me a very adorable picture of you and Nick this morning," she replied slyly. "You two were looking pretty comfortable, all wrapped up in each other."

"You need to stop talking now," I said firmly into the phone and then I turned to Joe, "And _you_, I cannot believe you told her, let alone took pictures of us!"

His eyes went wide and he quickly replied, "Oh look, we're at your car! I'll see you later Miles!" Then he took off half-running back to the hospital before I could get my hands on him.

"You're fiancée is a wimp, just so you know. You are going to marry a wimp, are you sure you're okay with that?" I asked jokingly.

She giggled, "I'll just have to man him up. It can't be too hard, right?"

"Let's hope not. Anyway, other than making fun of those pictures you got, why did you call?"

"Well," Demi replied slowly, "I figured out that we have the flowers, food, venue, music, dresses, and all that, we are done with it all and the wedding is in like three weeks and I feel like I have to be forgetting _something_. Am I forgetting anything? I seriously have this really bad feeling and I can't shake it."

"Demi, I promise that you remembered everything. We went through that whole checklist the other day, remember? You have everything all done and ready to go just like we planned. All we have left to do is to have the bachelorette party and then you're going to be a married. It's as simple as that," I said into the phone with as smile.

"It better be the best bachelorette party ever," she laughed. "It's going to be my last night of freedom!"

"Oh trust me, you don't have to worry about it, just leave it all to me, Dem. It's going to be a night you'll never forget."

"Isn't that how The Hangover started? I mean, I love that movie, but I definitely don't want my night turning out that way."

Meanwhile, I had been sitting in the front seat of my car with my phone up to my ear with the key in the ignition. "Okay, you really don't have any faith in me?"

"Oh I know it's going to be perfect, or else I'll put a tiger in your bathroom."

"Awesome," I said sarcastically. "Now I have to go because it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving, not that it ever stops you. But seriously, I have to get going, I really need to take a shower."

"Oh, do you smell like sex?" she asked calmly before bursting out into laughter.

"Wow, okay. I'm hanging up." And I did just that; I knew that she definitely would not have stopped if I had let her keep going. I put my car in drive and took off toward my house, but it wasn't until I was halfway home that I realized I'd have to deal with my best friend once I got home.

I pulled into my driveway, got out of my car, took a deep breath, and walked into my house where I saw Demi waiting on the couch. "Thanks for hanging up on me."

"No problem," I said, tossing my keys into the silver tray on the counter.

"I forgot to tell you when we were talking, but Nate called a couple of times. He just told me to ask you to call him whenever you were free. He said you guys needed to talk, what is that all about?"

"We just got in a fight, I don't know. We'll work it out I guess. I don't know if I want to talk to him right now, though."

"What happened?"

"It was just something with his sister dropping out of UCLA; I supported her decision, and he didn't and it just spun out of control from there. I promise that we'll talk, don't worry about it." I walked into the kitchen and grabbed myself a bottle of water while I leaned against our counter. Demi followed me and stared me down until I finally said, "What, Dem?"

"You need to call him before your relationship is unfixable. You know that is what's going to happen if you keep putting it off."

I rolled my eyes and brushed past her and made my way to my room. I tried to block out the little voice in my head that was telling me Demi was right, but it just wouldn't shut up. I groaned and picked up my phone, dialing Nate's number along the way.

"Hello?" he answered. His voice seemed tentative, like he didn't know what to say to me.

"Hey…" I replied quietly.

"I've been waiting for you to call me. I was getting nervous."

I sighed, "Sorry, I've been at the hospital all night and I just got home."

"What?" he asked sharply, his tone suddenly much more alarmed. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. While we were driving home I got a call from Demi saying that Nick was in an accident so as soon as you dropped me off, I got in my car and drove over to the hospital."

"Oh, well is he alright?"

"Yeah, it was just a concussion and some bruising. He got lucky."

Nate was quiet for a moment but then he asked, "You said you were there all night?"

"He just needed someone to stay with him."

"And it just had to be you?"

"I'm his friend," I said softly, "I chose to be there. I needed to be there for him."

"Fine," Nate said stiffly.

"What's your problem?" I exclaimed exasperated. "You've never had an issue with Nick and me before. Why now?"

"It's not like I've never had a problem with you guys, I've just never brought it up," he said, his voice carrying loudly through the phone.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't think I have a problem with you and Nick spending so much time together? It's hard enough to watch you two together during the day, but at night? Overnight? I have to draw the line somewhere, Miley."

"I don't think we should talk about this right now," I said quietly. "I don't want to argue with you."

He sighed, "I don't want to argue with you either."

We were both silent, only our steady breathing was heard over the phone line.

Finally, I said, "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know."

"Then…I'll call you later?" I asked, I even let slip a slight amount of hopefulness into my tone.

"I guess."

My heart stopped for a minute at his indifferent answer, but I shook it off. "Well, bye."

"Bye."

I threw my body down on my bed and buried my face in my hands. I had to fight the urge to scream, even though it was getting more and more difficult to do so by the minute. I took a deep breath, peeled myself off of my bed, and opened my bedroom door to reveal Demi standing there waiting.

She just had this look on her face, one that was a mix between sympathy and pity. She opened her arms wide as soon as she saw my expression and I let her wrap her arms around me in a comforting hug.

The rest of the day was spent driving all over town, making sure every single detail about the wedding was in check. I guessed that this was Demi's way of keeping my mind off of Nate.

However, it didn't stop me from thinking of that other curly-haired boy who was probably with Selena, patching up their relationship.

I shuddered, I didn't even want to think about how they were making their relationship good again.

"Boys suck," I said randomly out loud, to no one in particular as we stood waiting in the flower shop. Demi raised her eyebrows at my comment but I just shrugged it off.

'What?' I thought to myself, 'It's true, they do suck.'

_**~xoxo~**_

**Summer. Summer. Summer. Summer. :D**

**Six more chapters left and I really want to get them all up before I go on vacation on the 1st of July, so fingers crossed!**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


	25. Chapter 25

**_Happy Niley day! :)_**

**_~xoxo~_**

"So you have all of your stuff, sweetheart? Your toothbrush, pajamas, all your clothes?" my mom asked worriedly as she fussed around Joe's guestroom grabbing everything in sight.

"Yes mom," I replied in a bored tone. "I made sure to get everything."

"I just don't want you to be without anything once you get back to your house."

"Mom, I'm sure that Joe can bring me anything that I forgot, we don't live that far away from each other, remember?"

"Well I just need to make sure you have everything. There's no need to get upset," she huffed as she continued searching around the room.

Joe walked into my line of vision and leaned on the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. "Hey little bro, how is the packing going?"

"It would be going better if our mother," I paused and shot a look toward my mom, "would stop being freaking out over every little thing."

Her mouth formed a hard line and her hands went to her hips. "If you don't want my help then you just have to say so. I am just trying to be a good mother but if you don't want me to, then fine, I'll just leave."

"Mom…I'm sorry. I just really want to get home."

"Yeah mom, little Nicky doesn't want to hurt your feelings. Isn't that right?" Joe replied in the best baby voice he could come up with.

My mom rolled her eyes. "I can't deal with either of you boys. Here Nick," she said while she pressed a pile of clean clothes into my hands, "pack these away and then I guess you're allowed to leave if you really want to."

"Thank you mom," I smiled, taking the clothes from her. I turned back to my suitcase and carefully packed them away.

"Nick, I'm going to head out. I'll stop by your place later to check in."

"Seriously, you don't have to do that. My concussion is gone, I'm totally healed, everything is fine."

"Okay whatever you say," he chuckled as he walked out of the room.

"So mom I'm going to leave now," I said carefully, inching slowly to the door with my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Fine," she laughed. Then she pulled me into a tight hug that I thought I would never be able to pull myself out of. "I swear if you ever get into an accident like that again, I will not hesitate to kill you Nicholas."

I sighed and hugged her back. "I promise, that won't ever happen again," I whispered softly. "I love you mom."

When I finally received my overprotective mother's blessing to go home alone to my own house, I was relieved. Being here was only slightly better than being alone at Joe's house, only slightly, but still it was better than nothing.

I was sitting on my couch, watching the latest Yankee game when I heard my phone ring. I smiled when I saw the caller ID and answered in a chipper tone. "Well hello there Miles."

"Someone is happy this morning!" she laughed, her laughter carrying through the phone.

"Well actually being at my own home is a very happy experience for me, I must say."

"But now you don't have anybody to look after you!" she pouted. "You could die from that unnamed medical condition we discussed earlier."

"If you promise not to baby me, I promise not to die from the imaginary disease that you think I have."

"Fine, deal," she finally agreed. "Now, I have a surprise for you."

That comment peaked my interest. "A surprise? I love surprises!"

"I know! Now come outside before I decide to change my mind and take away your surprise."

"You wouldn't dare," I replied with a chuckle, but I was already getting up from my spot on the couch and making my way to my front door. As soon as I opened the door, I was met with Miley and her big smile.

"Surprise!" she shouted with a grin. She then stepped aside to reveal my surprise, she even used her arms to frame it like the girls from the Price is Right did.

My eyes went wide when I realized what she had gotten me. "A bike?" I asked incredulously. "You got me a bike?"

She shrugged, "Considering you were in a car accident, I figured that you and cars don't go so well together and the last time I got you a bike you seemed to love it, so here we are. It's a very good way of transportation, plus it's good for the environment."

"Well you know me, I'm all about going green," I joked while examining my new bicycle. I didn't really know much about bikes, only that this one was blue and had gears and that I really liked it. "Thank you, Miles."

"Now don't go reading too much into this," she replied, narrowing her eyes. "I just can't trust you in a car anymore, so you get a bike and I'm taking away your keys."

It took me a second to process what she said, and when I finally did she had already snuck past me and made it into my house where I knew she knew where I kept my car keys. "Miley!" I yelled and quickly ran in after her, but it was too late, she already had the keys in her hand.

"Yes?" she asked innocently, while slightly attempting to hide the stolen keys behind her back.

"I can see them behind your back," I said dryly. I made move to reach for them, but she lifted them out of my reach.

"I'm sorry Nick, but you crashed your car, so you get to have it taken away," Miley smirked and sauntered out of my house and back outside.

"Are you _grounding _me?" I asked incredulously, following her out to where my new mode of transportation was waiting.

She thought about it for a moment before nodding, "I guess you could put it that way."

"Well then when am I getting it back?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest in defiance. "Because I swear if my keys are not back in my hands in a maximum of two days, you are dead."

"Well it all depends on how good you are. So you better be extra nice to me or you will never get your car back."

"Come on Miles, when am I never _not_ nice to you?" I asked her, half serious, half not. (But honestly, the half serious part was more along the lines of two-thirds serious.)

As she began to list off times when I was apparently _mean_ to her, I took the moment to just look at her. I looked directly into her beautiful cerulean eyes, let my eyes linger over her gorgeous body; I was so taken with her that I hadn't realized another smirk had graced her features and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Enjoying the view?"

"What?"

"Nick, if you are going to stare at me, at least make it subtle."

I felt my cheeks flare up into a blush and I cleared my throat, "I really have no idea what you're talking about."

She scoffed, "Yeah, sure."

I rolled my eyes. "So besides coming here to ruin my good day by taking away my rights to drive, why are you here? Hopefully there is no more surprises coming my way."

Miley shook her head, "Nope, no more surprises. I ran out of creativity to come up with another one."

"Yeah, like you could really ever run out of creativity, Miles. Seriously, you are just one big ball of imagination."

"Okay, so I can't really tell whether or not that is a compliment, but I'm going to pretend it was and say thank you anyway, so thank you Nick. And to answer your question, that is all I was here for. Now I have to go and pick up Demi's present before I forget."

"Demi's present? Like for the wedding?"

"No, to congratulate her on being single," she replied sarcastically before whacking me upside the head, "Of course it's for the wedding."

"Well sorry!" I exclaimed while rubbing the back of my neck in pain. "It's not like you really made it clear. Plus, what about Joe? Does he just not get a present?"

"Oh I got his ages ago, as well as the actual 'Yay! You're married so here's your toaster!' gift. But Demi is my best friend and hers took a little more thought. So when I finally figured it out, I knew that it was going to be perfect, so that's what I've been wrapping my head around for the past couple of weeks."

"You really can't stay?"

"Sorry, I really can't. Call Joe, have him entertain you."

"He has been my entertainment for the past week, I've had enough of him for a year."

"Well then be a loner at home for all I care, all I know is that I need to go. I'll call you later, and don't forget, if you're not nice to me, you don't get your precious keys back."

She threw her head back in laughter and it continued up until she climbed into her car, though I could still see her laughing even after she was out of earshot. I smiled as she drove away; her visits were always somewhat comical.

Like it usually went in my life, when my phone began buzzing as soon as Miley drove away, I immediately could guess who it was on the line. Of course, I was right and I answered with: "Selena, hey."

"Hi," she replied awkwardly. "We haven't talked in a while."

"Sorry," I said stiffly.

"It's fine…how are you?"

"Fine, a little tired though. But I'm glad to be out of Joe's, he can be frustrating."

"That's good, that you're home. I can only imagine what it feels like being around Joe so much."

"It wasn't too bad. We just watched a lot of sports."

"Oh…okay."

"Yeah," I replied awkwardly. I made my way back inside of my house and gingerly leaned against the back of my couch. This was probably one of the most uncomfortable conversations I'd ever had, and that was saying something. Selena and I had not even talked (at least not at length) since she came to visit me the day I left the hospital.

Even then it was a tense atmosphere because of everything with Miley, now, I didn't even know what to say. It was eating me inside to know that I betrayed Selena, even if it wasn't in the way I thought. Sure, I felt terrible for that night and everything that happened, but now it was at the point where I was feeling as if I was betraying Miley, not Selena.

Was that wrong? Probably. In fact, I knew it was wrong; I could feel it in my core; I could feel that this just wasn't right. I think this was the moment I was supposed to feel when Miley first came back into town, but somehow I was able to ignore it until now. But now, it was like a weight laying heavily on my mind and heart.

"Nick?" Selena finally asked softly, her voice barely carrying over the line. "We need to talk, right?"

I sighed, "Yeah, I think so."

"I think…" she paused before starting up again, "I think things are changing or at least they're just going back to the way things were, I don't know."

"I know, I'm sorry. I really am."

"We need to not do this over the phone, I think in person would be better. And then we just need to talk, and I mean really talk, Nick, because you're in love with Miley and that really sucks for me."

"Selena…" I said slowly, but I didn't deny it, obviously.

"Please, please don't even pretend that you don't know it's true. I'm so tired of you pretending, it's honestly exhausting having to listen to you." She said that statement so matter-of-factly, her voice void of any tears or sadness, she just said it and that was it.

I still attempted to argue with her, she couldn't just say something like that without any effort on my part to sedate her. "Okay, seriously, you can't just say things like that, Selena, especially over the phone."

"You didn't even deny it," she replied softly.

"Oh, come on…"

"You know what? I changed my mind, I don't really want to look at you right now, so I'm just going to leave you with this. You have to choose, literally. I know I've said this before, but I actually mean it now. You have to really choose and then you have to stick with it, because honestly, I'm about ready to leave on my own."

Then she hung up.

"Shit," I grumbled and I quickly dialed her number back. Obviously I couldn't just let her say things like that without any rebuttal from me. Unfortunately however, she didn't answer. Then she didn't answer the second time, or third time, or even the fourth time I called. By then I had pretty much given up.

I switched gears and dialed a different number. It rang a couple of times before she finally picked up. "Nick?" she asked curiously.

"Demi!" I exclaimed. "Thank you so much for answering, seriously, I'm dying here."

"More girl problems?" she laughed. "You're worse than the girls I know."

"Selena won't answer her phone."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed.

She laughed sarcastically, "Oh really? Are you sure about that?"

"Well…it's just Miley stuff I guess. Everything that happened last week and I don't know how to get her talk to me again."

"I don't really know what to say, Nick. I mean, it's not like we are really friends anymore so I don't know what she would want from you. From what I know of everything, I would focus on her for a little while and don't give up your efforts because the minute you stop trying you will lose her."

"Okay, thanks Dem. I really fucked up this time."

"Don't you do that often?" she asked innocently before breaking out in a fit of laughter.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever, you suck."

"No, I really actually don't. By the way, before I hang up on you, I just thought that I would remind you that you should not be with Selena and how much you should be with Miley."

"Oh my god…" I groaned.

"Bye!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

As I hung up I was reminded of the problem that had surrounded me since the first day both girls became a part of my life: who should I choose?

**_~xoxo~_**

**Review? :)**


	26. Chapter 26

_**~xoxo~**_

"So what are your plans for tonight?" Demi asked me as she set about washing all the dirty dishes that were strewn across our kitchen.

As she was doing that, I was simply sitting at our kitchen counter flipping through the latest gossip magazine. "I think I'm going to go talk with Nate, but I don't know if I have the energy to do that right now."

My best friend raised her eyebrows. "What are you say? Are you going to break up with him?"

"I really don't know. I think once I start to him then hopefully I'll get some clarity or something but I'm not sure. I'll just wing it, I guess."

"Have you guys talked since your last conversation?"

I laughed, "Um, no. I've been avoiding him as much as possible. I texted him saying I wasn't feeling very good and I said that was the reason for my absence in his life for the past couple of days."

"Nice," she replied sarcastically. "He definitely doesn't know anything is wrong."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, "Don't get like that with me. I just don't know what to say."

"Well do whatever you think is right, I guess. Breaking someone's heart is never easy."

I just stared at her in annoyance. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side? You are _my _best friend."

She shrugged, "Miles, you're going to break that poor guy's heart, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. However, that doesn't mean I don't think you're doing the right thing. As much as it's going to hurt him, it's better to end it now than to lead him on and hurt him even more later."

I thought over her words and became lost in thought as I flipped aimlessly through the magazine. Demi left me alone in my own thoughts and I could faintly hear her humming to herself as she finished up the dishes.

After what felt like forever but in reality was probably only a couple of minutes, I vacated my spot by the counter, picked up my keys, and left the house without another word. As I started up my car, I took a deep breath and then made my way to the nearest Starbucks (also known as the first place Nate and I met).

'Come on Miley, you can do this,' I thought to myself as I sat at one of the tables in Starbucks with my phone out in front of me. 'Just one text.'

I took a deep breath and began to gingerly type on my keypad. 'Can you meet me at Starbucks as soon as possible? We need to talk.' I quickly pressed send before I could stop myself and I impatiently waited for a response. It came quicker than I thought it would, but when it did it said just one word, 'Sure.'

I probably shouldn't have used the phrase 'we need to talk' because now that I think about it, it's the most over-used, clichéd sentence that always immediately indicates that a breakup is coming. And his response to me didn't sound enthusiastic which I definitely took as him knowing what was going to happen. So all of this just made the situation way more awkward; it's one thing to break up with somebody, but a complete different thing to attempt to break up with them when they are expecting it.

Since I was spacing out, I didn't even notice Nate had arrived until he was sliding into the seat across from me. "Hi," he said quietly, looking down.

"Hey…how are you?"

He shrugged, "I've been better. And you?"

"I'm okay," I said softly, twiddling my thumbs in my lap.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused, but then my eyes went wide when I realized he was asking about it because I had told him I was sick, "Oh right, yes I am. I think it was just the flu or something, but I'm feeling as good as new."

"Well that's good."

"Yeah…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

As much as Nate probably wasn't looking forward to this conversation, he continued to prod me in the right direction. "You said you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, um, Nate…I like you a lot but…" I closed my eyes and blurted out the rest of the sentence, "we need to break up."

"I figured that's what you were going to say," he said simply, but I noticed how his shoulders slumped slightly and how the happiness had gone out of his expression.

"I'm sorry, I really am. And I want you to know that this is completely about me; you were a great boyfriend and an even more wonderful person and I'm going to miss you so much and I know I don't really get the right to say that, but it's all true."

"It's fine Miley, I mean I knew it wasn't going to work out between us, so it's just as much my fault as it is yours; we both lead each other on."

"Wait, what?"

"Come on, you are a beyond famous actress and singer and whatever else you do and I'm just a guy from a town who goes to college and visits his parents in their small house in a small neighborhood. I'm not your type, I get it."

I shook my head trying to wrap it around whatever he had just said. "Is that what you think?"

"What?"

"You think I'm breaking up with you because you're not my type? If that's what you think then you are completely wrong, in fact, you're more my type than anyone, you're perfect. Trust me, I would choose you over pretty much any guy in a heartbeat. That's what I mean when I say it's totally me and my issues that are the problem, not you."

"Then why is this happening?" he exclaimed, but he quickly lowered his voice when the other customers started to look over at the two of us. "If this isn't about me, then what is it about?"

I threw my hands up in exasperation, "You really want to know? Fine. Because I'm in love with someone else and I can't help it and I can't do anything about it, so I really don't want to bring you down with me."

Nate cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment (a strange resemblance to another boy…). "Oh…I didn't…sorry."

I sighed, "Why are you apologizing when I'm the one breaking up with you and saying I'm in love with someone else?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I know you're not actually trying to be a bitch and life happens. It sucks and gets in our way and half the time I swear it's purposely trying to make living complete hell, but that's what life is and you either deal with it or you ignore it; I'd go with the first option if I were you."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I'll probably end up dying alone because there's very little chance I'll ever be with the guy I'm in love with and using our relationship as an example, I obviously can't deal with being with anyone else. No offense."

"Surprisingly that actually did make me feel better," he chuckled.

"I have to say, I didn't think you would take it so well. And that definitely wasn't an invitation for you to start freaking out on me."

He shrugged, "I didn't think I would either. I was ready to freeze you out and never talk to you again, but once you're in the presence of someone as amazing as you, it's hard to not say a word."

"Well I guess that should make me feel pretty special."

"Oh great, you broke up with me and now I'm the one making you feel special. Maybe I should start yelling just to make this whole break-up more believable…"

"Uh, how about no? I like you being nice to me."

"Can you at least keep talking to Hanna? She's going to be devastated when she finds out."

I laughed, "Of course. You know that I love her. Is she doing good with her internship?"

"She actually is. I'm sorry for going off on you about that. I think you had a point, maybe college isn't her thing. Her boss even said once her internship is done, she can have a real job in the industry."

"Good for her. Have your parents come around too? What about Brooke?"

"My parents kicked her out and are refusing to talk to her and Brooke looks at her like she's a total disappointment but at least she's talking to her a little bit. Hanna is staying with me at least until she can afford her own apartment."

I sighed, "Well hopefully they come around. Tell her that if she needs anything, she can call me."

"I will," he smiled. He looked down at his watch and his eyes went wide. "Oh, I have to go. I have class to get to."

"Okay," I replied, standing up. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, I hope I do. Oh, and Miley?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you're in love with Nick and you think that you'll always be in love with him, which is probably true, but don't let that stop you from trying to find someone. It might not be me, but you know? You don't have to find someone that will make you stop loving him, you just have to find someone to make you stop wishing for him."

I smiled and against my better judgment, I pulled him into a hug. He stood there awkwardly for a second before tentatively hugging me back. "Thanks," I said quietly.

As he pulled away he whispered, "Good luck, Miley." And then he walked out of my life, and I knew in my heart that it was for good. We could talk all we wanted about staying friends and seeing each other later, but he and I both knew it wouldn't happen.

I actually felt relieved once it was all over. For the first time in a long time, I felt a real smile come to my face. I don't think I'd had that smile since I first moved back to California; it was one that was fresh on my face, a nice change from my usual facial expression, one of stress.

I finished my coffee and walked out into the bright daylight. At first, I began to head back home, but while I was almost there, I quickly changed my mind and turned my car around. I had to force myself to drive calmly, but I couldn't help but go over the speed limit a little bit (or maybe a lot).

I pulled into the parking lot, climbed out of my car as quickly as possible, but then I slowed down considerably as I finally stopped right outside of the door to the shop. I took a deep breath and walked across the threshold. I heard the familiar sound of the little bell dinging over my head as I walked in.

The sign overhead read: _Aunt Lucy's Gelato Shop._

"Well, I didn't think I'd see you back in here," a memorable voice said from behind the counter of the shop.

I shrugged, "I just couldn't stay away."

"Has your life changed much since we last talked, sweetie?" she asked calmly, with a twinkle in her eye.

"You can say that," I laughed. "A lot of things have changed, I've changed."

"I'm proud of you," she smiled warmly, "It takes a lot of courage to face who you really are and even more courage to accept it."

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

"I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what my opinion is if that counts for anything."

"Okay…" I said with some uncertainty.

"People are supposed to change and grow up, that's just the way of life, but that doesn't mean that we have to become different people. Take myself for example, I'm still the same Aunt Lucy who's name you see on the sign outside at heart, I've just become a little wiser along with a few other things. So you left apparently because you didn't like who you were and sure, sweetheart, you may have changed overseas, but you're always going to be the same girl.

"So when you came back, you were expecting everything to be different, you were expecting _you_ to be different, but you're not and you were disappointed with that. And personally, I think if you're disappointed that you haven't changed, than you really haven't learned anything in your time away. That's not meant to be harsh, but it is the truth."

I thought over what she said and sighed, "So what are you saying?"

She stepped out from behind the counter and placed her hips, "Now that, my dear, is up to your interpretation."

"You're not even going to explain what you're trying to tell me?"

"Trust me, it's always sweeter when you can figure it out on your own. Now, would you like some gelato? Your favorite, perhaps?"

I nodded in quiet annoyance and crossed my arms over my chest. Was it too much to ask for someone for once to just _tell_ me what to do? I was so tired of having to decide everything for myself; it was truly exhausting.

"Oh cheer up," Lucy said in a cheerful tone while handing me my gelato, "You'll do whatever is right for you and everything will work out."

"I hope it does…thanks for talking with me."

"Anytime darling, my door is always open."

I smiled and gave her a slight nod as I made my way back outside. On the drive home, I thought deeply into what Lucy had said to me. When I first thought about it, I thought that the old, kind woman was crazy and out of her mind. She made absolutely no sense and I still found myself questioning her words, but I guess at some point, they slowly began to sink in and I figured out my own interpretation of her lecture to me.

I flew into my house like a flash of lightening and I almost even ran into Demi, who was just coming out of the living room.

"I have something to tell you!" I blurted out. She seemed taken aback by my outburst, and led me over to the couch where I sat down, though I was restless and fought against the motion.

"Please tell me you broke up with Nate," she pleaded.

"Well yes, but that's not what I want to tell you," I replied, waving off her comment.

"Then what is it?"

I sighed, suddenly my confidence had drained out, but I continued on because I knew I had to. "Demi, I've decided to move back to London."

Her face dropped and a frown appeared, "What?"

"After your wedding of course, I wouldn't leave you now." I tried laughing to lighten the mood.

"Don't try joking with me, this is serious. You're really moving back?"

"Yeah…"

"But, why? I thought you were happy here. This is your home."

"I am happy and this will always be my home and I'm coming back, I just don't think I spent enough time away. The whole time I was trying to become a different person, when I should have tried to find the real me. I think I can do that this time."

I looked at Demi and it looked as if she was about to cry, not that she would ever admit it though. "And you're sure? Because I'm not selling the house or anything just because I'm moving out, you'd still have a home here…"

"I know, but this is something I really need to do for me, you know? Last time I ran away I was just a scared kid trying to get away from it all, now I actually have a real reason, a legitimate reason too."

"What about Nick though? I mean you two…" she trailed off not knowing how to describe it and I couldn't blame her, I hardly knew myself.

"Nick is with Selena and whether he is happy or not is his business. Plus it's not that far away, it's just across the ocean."

"Well, fine. But if you don't come back within a year, I'm flying to London and dragging you back to California whether you like it or not."

I giggled, "Fair enough."

"I'm going to miss you," she said sadly while pulling me into a tight hug. "You're always going to be my best friend, never forget that."

"I'll miss you too, Dems," I whispered.

_**~xoxo~**_

**So that's how this chapter ends... :)**

**The wedding is the next chapter! (Hopefully I wrote it okay, I've only been to one wedding and I don't really remember it too much).**


	27. Chapter 27

**_Yay, fast update! The reviews stopped coming so I decided to post another chapter. :) Just so everyone knows, this story will be finished by June 30th, because I go on vacation the next day, so it's only fair to wrap it up before I disappear for ten days._**

**_~xoxo~_**

I carefully opened up my best friend's bedroom door and slowly placed the breakfast tray on her bed. Then I began to slightly nudge her to wake up. "Demi, Dems, Demi!"

She shot up immediately and exclaimed, "Oh my god! What?"

"Hi best friend who is also going to become a wife today!" I yelled excitedly while I practically jumped on top of her.

"I still have a headache from last night…" she groaned, pulling the covers over her head. I heard a slight mumble come from within the blankets, "You know how to throw a fantastic bachelorette party, I can tell you that."

"Well thank you, I take pride in my party planning. Now get up, we have to be at the church in an hour. I already let you sleep an extra hour."

"Why are you so chipper?" she said, forcing herself up and out of the bed. "And plus, we're getting ready at the church, so can't I sleep for a little while more?"

"No, you can't. You have to eat breakfast and then you have to take a shower. Trust me, with only an hour we are barely going to make it anyway."

Demi sighed and sat back down on her bed, but I could definitely see a smile hidden behind her tired features. "You actually made me breakfast in bed?"

"The bride-to-be deserves the best treatment possible on her wedding day!"

"Thank you," she grinned. "You are the best maid of honor ever."

"Now hurry up and eat and then get in the shower as soon as possible and I'm going to finish up loading the car. We're leaving at nine o'clock sharp and the wedding starts at one!" I called over my shoulder as I left her alone in her room.

I took out my phone and dialed the other half of the wedding party in order to give them a status update (something we had both agreed on in order to make this wedding go as smooth as possible). "Nick!" I exclaimed as soon as he answered.

"Hey Miles," he chuckled. "What's up?"

"So Demi is awake and being fed as we speak and we're leaving in an hour for the church. How is Joe?"

He replied, most likely with a smirk, "Slightly hung-over, but it's nothing my special hangover drink can't fix in an hour."

"I swear if he shows up in any less than perfect shape, then I'll kill you."

"There is no need to make threats! I'll make sure he shows up perfect, don't you trust me?"

"I haven't quite decided yet," I replied distractedly as I was trying to figure out how all our stuff was going to fit in the back of my car. "Nick, I have to go. I'll call you when we get to the church." I hung up before I even heard him say goodbye.

"This is going to be a problem," I said quietly to myself, but then I just went for it, even breaking the laws of physics to get all of the stuff inside.

An hour later, staying strictly to my schedule, Demi and I were in the car on our way to the church. As I drove, I saw Demi's knee shaking up and down and a shot her a quick questioning look. "Cold feet?"

She shook her head, but said, "Everything is just going to change, you know?"

"I guess, but you two are practically married already, today will just make it official."

"But I'm going to be _married_, Miley, like literally married. To Joe. That's huge. And you're leaving again and…I don't know if I can do this."

"Oh god," I groaned. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this. Okay, Demi, listen to me clearly. Joe loves you and you are going to marry him today and you're going to be so happy, I promise. Things are going to be great, you really have absolutely nothing to worry about. You just can't start getting cold feet because once you go down that road, it's hard to leave it."

"Do you promise that I'll be happy?"

I smiled softly, and snuck a quick glance at her even though I was supposed to keep my eyes on the road. I said, "I promise."

She had her head leaned against the window and she had a sweet smile on her features. I knew that she wasn't actually worried about her impending marriage to Joe, in fact she was beyond excited, but she had probably just watched way too many romantic movies where the bride always had to get a little worried or else the movie just wouldn't flow very well.

"I can't wait to see what he looks like in his tuxedo," she finally said to break the silence.

"He's going to look very handsome, I'm sure. He is probably also dying to know how you're going to look in your beautiful dress."

"Well…when he last talked he sort of said he would much rather get me out of it," Demi said slowly, a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"Wow, okay," I said, putting my hand up to stop her before she could go any further as I pulled into the parking lot of the church, "way too much information."

She shrugged, "You're my best friend, nothing is ever too much information."

I laughed as I got out of the car and headed to the trunk. I opened it and began to load all of the contents out into the street. "We needed to bring way too much stuff."

"Need any help?"

I shook my head, "I'm good. Go into the church and send out your sister or Tiffany or someone. You need to relax and start getting ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. See?" I said, showing her I was capable of carrying the stuff without her help. "Now, I'll follow you in. Start walking."

We walked into the church and then into the bridal room in the back. It was very large, with vanities and couches covering pretty much every inch of it. Thankfully it was pretty bright and not badly lighted like most places.

"Demi!" I heard girls squeal from somewhere within the room. All of a sudden, Tiffany, Dallas, and little Madison (though I guess she wasn't so little anymore) had engulfed Demi in an enormous hug.

"You're getting married today," Dallas said softly, wrapping her younger sister in yet another hug. "My baby sister is going to become a wife today."

"Now don't start crying this early!" Demi exclaimed while laughing to herself.

I chuckled and got everyone's attention, "Okay, we have three hours until show time-,"

Demi put her hand up and cut me off, "Please do not refer to my wedding as 'show time' because this is definitely not a concert of any sort."

"I'm very sorry, bridezilla. As I was saying, we only have three hours until the wedding starts. Hair and makeup people will be here soon, but for right now, I say we have a glass of champagne. I hear that it helps with the hangover from the bachelorette party."

Tiffany grabbed one of the bottles lying in the ice bucket and said, "Well I hope you're right even though I seriously doubt you are, but it's worth a try." She began to fill up each of the glasses, even a small amount for Madison, the only one underage, was allowed.

I laughed and excused myself for a minute as I went to call Nick.

"Miley! Did you make it to the church okay?"

"Yes, we are here and we are drinking."

"Okay good…wait what? You're drinking? That can't be good, can it?" he asked worriedly.

I rolled my eyes, "Trust me, it's just tradition. I'll make sure that in three hours Demi will be able to walk in a straight line down the aisle. I can't really promise that she will stay sober after the wedding though."

"Well I can't promise Joe will stay sober either, so it's all good."

"Okay, we're both even. You guys are coming to the church soon, right?"

"Yeah, in about an hour probably. Hey, are you bringing, um, Nate to the wedding?"

"Oh…you haven't heard?" I asked slowly, suddenly becoming extremely self-conscious.

"Heard what?"

"We broke up last week. I just thought you knew…"

He was silent for a moment but then his voice finally came through the phone, slightly breathless. "You…you and Nate broke up? Like, for real?"

"Yes, Nick. For real, and we have some things to talk about, or one big thing to be specific. It's about me and my future and…we'll just talk later."

"Wait, Miley-," he said, trying to keep me from hanging up but I did anyway. Telling him I had plans to move back to London tomorrow was not exactly something I thought was good to say over the phone. I sighed, but thankfully several people walking down the hallway pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Miley?" one of them asked me. I was confused for a moment but then it dawned on me.

"You must be the people who are here to make us all pretty today," I said with a warm smile, waving them into the room I had just exited.

"Oh trust me, you don't even really need us, we're just here to enhance how pretty all of you are," one of the girls said to me with a laugh. "Lead the way."

Almost a full three hours later, I was standing in front of a mirror having just pulled on my dress. I had spent so much time on Demi that it didn't really leave a lot of time for me to get ready. I ran my hands over the material and smiled at myself in the mirror; I hadn't been this dressed up in years. The dress was long and one-shouldered, with flower details adorning the shoulder. It was a deep purple color and if I had to say so, it looked great on me.

"Miles?" Demi asked me, lightly touching my back. "It's time to go."

"Are you ready?" I asked her, grabbing her shoulders and looking her straight in the eye.

"More ready than you know," she laughed. I could see the tears sparkling in her eyes, which of course made me start to tear up.

"You look so beautiful," I whispered softly through my tears. "Your dress is absolutely stunning." And it was. Her dress was pure white with a floral texture covering the entire thing. It was strapless and ended with a train that was short, but someone could still definitely trip over it; it fit her figure perfectly. Along with the jewelry she wore with it (as well as her something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue), she looked like a princess.

"Don't cry," she laughed, though she couldn't help herself either. "We're going to mess up our makeup."

"Something tells me Joe won't really care if your makeup is messed up or not."

"I want you to know that you're my best friend and always will be and thank you so much for this beautiful wedding. I love you, Miles."

"You deserve to have the best wedding and the best life that life itself has to offer, Demi," I said as I pulled her into a hug.

"Miley, you do too. You deserve this, all of this," she exclaimed, motioning around the room. "I know you think you and Nick are some tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet, and you think you guys aren't meant to be together. But you know what? Screw Romeo and Juliet, it was a lame story anyway. Who would really be stupid enough to kill themselves over a guy that she met like the day before? Don't give up on Nick because you're scared; you deserve the world and I'm so afraid that you don't realize that yet."

"How did your wedding day turn into us talking about my relationship with Nick?"

"That's what best friends do, babe. They talk about each other's lives in the most inappropriate situations. Just don't give up, okay? Promise me that you'll keep fighting for love, even if it doesn't end up being with Nick, just keep fighting and never give up."

"I promise. I love you, Demi. You're the best friend a girl could have," I said softly. "Now let's get you out there so you can get married."

She nodded and delicately picked up her dress off of the ground so that she didn't trip over it. I followed her out, but then took my place in front of her as the bridal party began to make their way down the aisle. I shot Demi one last smile before I began to walk. I beamed the entire way down the aisle as I kept my gaze locked on Nick. He was grinning as well and part of me just hoped that he was suffering a mini-heart attack at the sight of me. I smirked as soon as I got close enough to him and flashed him a wink. He rolled his eyes but laughed anyway.

And then it was like the entire room froze and everybody turned towards the bride, but I already knew what she looked like. Sure, I looked at her for a second; I took in her beautiful smile, her breathtaking figure, but most of all, how happy she looked. But as soon as I took in what she looked like, I turned to the groom.

They say that while everyone looks at the bride, you should be the one looking at the groom because he always had the best look on his face. Joe had a smile that lit up his entire face and I could see the tears threatening to break free. I couldn't help but feel so content while looking at him. It made life feel so worth it just to be able to witness this moment in time.

When Demi reached the alter, the ceremony began. Honestly, I kind of zoned out throughout the service. I spent my time sneaking glances at Nick (although he was doing the same with me) and I didn't end up listening until the vows came.

"Demi and Joe have decided to say a few words about each other," the priest said and I snapped my attention towards my best friends.

Joe cleared his throat and began, "Demi, I remember the first day I met you…" he paused, "Actually, that's a lie, I really don't remember; I was going to make something up but then I figured that you would probably remember. Anyway, I do remember that as soon as I did meet you, you were always on my mind and before I knew it, I was falling for you and now I can't even think of a time where I didn't love you.

"I love your smile and your laugh and your eyes. I love that you hate dressing up and that you always say what's on your mind. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Demetria Devonne."

I giggled as I watched Demi cringe at the use of her name like that and Joe smirked along with me. But unfortunately for him, she had a glint in her eye that meant payback.

"Joseph Adam, I actually do remember the first time we met. I was auditioning for _Camp Rock_ and they brought you in to make sure we had good chemistry and then you tripped coming through the door and sprained your ankle. That was the moment I knew…I knew you were a total idiot, but I loved you anyway." Joe's face was totally red from the story which I'm sure Demi was having a good laugh at.

"Seriously though, you have been so amazing to me. You are kind and sweet and more loving then anyone I've ever met. I love when we're just doing something as simple as watching a movie and you intertwine our fingers or when you kiss my cheek when you're trying to get out of a fight. I'm so overjoyed that I even have the chance to know you and to love you."

Although Joe was already grasping her hand, he gave it a squeeze, which she returned as well as a smile.

"And now for the vows," the priest said. "Do you, Joseph Adam Jonas, take Demetria Devonne Lovato to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you part?"

Joe smiled and said, "I do."

"Do you, Demetria Devonne Lovato, take Joseph Adam Jonas to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you part?"

"I do," Demi replied beaming.

"Now the rings?" the priest asked, turning towards Nick and I. I carefully pulled out Joe's ring and handed it to Demi. She gingerly placed the ring on his left, ring finger as he did the same.

The priest looked at the couple with a smile and announced, "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Which Joe complied with immediately. Demi squealed as Joe took her into her arms, dipped her down, and promptly kissed her right on the mouth. Everyone laughed the kiss lasted for several seconds longer than necessary. When Demi was finally brought back up, her face was flushed and she was definitely blushing. They linked arms and began their walk back down the aisle as an official couple. Nick and I followed their lead and we linked arms as well.

"You're breathtaking," he whispered in my ear as we walked down past everyone.

"Well thanks Nicky," I laughed.

"Seriously, I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you in my life."

I sighed, "First of all, don't let your girlfriend overhear you saying that and secondly, I think Demi deserves that compliment."

He ignored my first statement but still answered my second, "It's a little awkward to tell Demi that considering she's like my sister and now my sister-in-law."

"You're such a wimp."

"I am not!"

"Yeah, sure Nick."

"What did you need to talk to me about? You know, the reason you hung up on me."

I opened my mouth to reply, honestly I thought telling him right then would add to the shock value, but I decided against it a couple seconds later because we had reached the end of the church and we had reached the outside.

"It's not important right now," I said with a smile, and I braved a quick kiss to his cheek.

_**~xoxo~**_

**Hopefully I wrote the ceremony part alright, I'm not really an expert on weddings...**

**By the way, I can't believe I'm at 250 reviews. I'm so amazed with everyone who took the time to comment and such, it really means so much. :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**_~xoxo~_**

"I can't believe we pulled it off," Nick said with a smile, as we made our way to the reception hall in our own personal limo. I figured Demi and Joe would probably take a couple extra spins around town alone, so Nick and I would start things off at the reception.

"What do you mean _we_ pulled it off? You had nothing to do with it; you were only there to look pretty," I exclaimed, punching him playfully in the arm.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. If that's what you want to call it. But I'm definitely going to be the one that makes all the wedding pictures look good."

I laughed and pointed to somewhere outside the window. "Look, we're here. Now get out before I strangle you for being a smartass."

I pushed him out of the vehicle and I laughed as he almost tripped. "I hate you," I heard him mumble as he brushed himself off.

"No, you definitely don't."

"Yes I do."

"No. You don't hate me. Now come on, we have to get this party started." I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the hall. "There's going to be so many people here tonight. If you thought the ceremony was full of people, just wait until the reception. It's going to be suffocating, just the way I like it."

"You're cracked. Who likes to feel suffocated?"

"Wow, okay. Jerk much?"

He chuckled and put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm just saying that no person in their right mind likes to feel suffocated."

I shrugged, "Well I thrive in it, at least for a little while until I run away. But luckily I've learned over time to deal with a couple hours of a room packed with people. I'm very excited, to be honest, although that could be because I planned the whole night." Then I brushed past him and into the reception hall. Everything was set up once I got inside and all I had to do was direct people to their seats as the event began.

Just as I suspected, Demi and Joe didn't show up for another half hour, I figured they were relishing in the fact that they were now a married couple. When they finally did decide to show their faces, I was ready with a microphone in hand.

"Hey everyone!" I said to all the guests in attendance. "I would like to introduce to you all to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jonas who are going to celebrate their union with their first dance."

The sweet sound of the song _I'll Stand By You _sung by the Pretenders. Joe took her hand and led her out on to the dance floor, Demi's smile as radiant as always. He spun her around a couple of times before pulling her close to his chest in a tight embrace; Joe was whispering things into her ear and she replied with laughter. She leaned up and kissed him while intertwining both their hands together. I heard someone clear his or her throat behind me and turned to see Nick with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Can I have this dance?" he asked, placing his hand out for me to take.

"Well I guess it is the tradition for the maid of honor and the best man to have a dance as well," I said quietly, mulling it over. But after about a second I took his hand and let him lead me out to where the new married couple was dancing.

Nick took me into his arms and pulled me close into his chest. We swayed back and forth, my head on his chest. Not meaning to ruin the moment, I carefully asked, "Don't you think Selena will be mad?"

"Probably."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I just want to dance with you, Miles."

I didn't answer directly to him, but I mumbled, "Well I can't argue with that."

The song ended and I pulled away from him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Selena with a frown on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. I sighed, flashed Nick a smile and then walked away from him before anything else was able to happen.

"Miley!" Demi exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is pretty much the best thing you've ever done for me."

"Like I said, you deserve it," I grinned right back.

Joe came over to join us and wrapped an arm around his wife's waist. "Miley, our personal wedding planner, I can't thank you enough. This has all been amazing, and that's coming from a guy."

"Anytime. Maybe I can make a career out of it. Making everyone else's lives happy while I work in the background."

Joe shot me a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry to hear about you and Nate."

"Thank you, Joey, but I can't say I didn't see it coming."

"Is that why you're running back to London?" he asked bluntly while Demi subtly socked him in the stomach.

I laughed, "Despite what you think, I'm not running away from anything. I need to go back to figure some stuff out, but I'll be back, don't worry."

"Have you told Nick yet?" Demi asked softly, leaning into Joe.

"No. I don't know how to tell him to be honest."

"Just don't leave without saying goodbye this time," Joe said, giving me a wink. Then he kissed Demi sweetly on the cheek. "I'm going to go say hi to a couple people."

"Okay, I'll catch up with you in a second."

As he walked away, she turned to me and raised her eyebrows, "He's right you know. I don't think he'd forgive you if you left a second time without so much as a goodbye."

I nodded and she gave me a sweet smile and walked away to find her husband amongst the crowd of people. I figured that I might as well continue my rounds just as a good maid of honor is supposed to. As I was talking to someone that I probably once knew years ago, back in my time of fame, I caught the eye of Nick across the room. He flashed me a grin and a small wave, but I just gave him a tight smile in return.

I couldn't even look him in the eye and I felt terrible for it, but I knew that once he knew, he would be devastated, even if he really was in love with Selena. I could see it in his eyes when he talked about when he wanted to marry me; that love that he constantly talked about would always stay with him, which was probably why I needed to get away. He hadn't grown up yet and if he truly wanted to be with me, he would have to prove to me that he deserved it.

But then, wasn't the whole reason I was leaving was because I needed to grow up? Because I needed to find myself again? So maybe we weren't ever supposed to be together because neither of us would ever be able to grow up enough to ever be something more than teenage sweethearts.

"Miley?" the person I was talking to asked. Focusing on her more completely, I realized that it was Bridgit. After her movie on Disney got big, along with her show, she went on to _High School Musical_ like stardom. She ended up a lot like Ashley; got out of Disney and started her own show on a whole new 'more risqué' network.

"I'm sorry. I spaced out for a second," I replied apologetically.

"Oh no problem. I figure that you're exhausted after planning all of this."

I raised my eyebrows, "How did you know I planned it?"

She shrugged, "You're Demi's best friend and you came back from wherever you disappeared to just for her wedding months ago. It wasn't hard to piece it all together. You did a fantastic job, though; this whole wedding has been magical."

"Thank you, Bridgit. I've been wanting to congratulate you forever; what you've done with your career is so amazing, I admire you so much."

"Wow, that means a lot coming from you considering how large your legacy is."

I started to reply, but Selena of all people interrupted me. She had tapped me lightly on the shoulder and was standing there with a tight smile placed on her face. "Sorry to interrupt, but Miley, can we talk for a moment?"

I was almost able to get out of it, but of course Bridgit was quick to let me go. I guess she didn't want to stick around for this awkward conversation anymore than I did. "Oh, Miley go ahead. I have to give my congratulations to Demi and Joe. Excuse me."

"Do you think we could go…" she looked around before focusing on an empty table with chairs all around, "…over there maybe? It's kind of away from all the crowds."

"Um, sure," I said uncertainly. I followed her over in that direction and carefully sat down in a chair opposite of hers. "So what did you need to talk about?"

She just stared at me for several moments, and I awkwardly attempted to keep her gaze. "I wanted to apologize."

"Wait…what?" I asked in disbelief. I must have been hearing things because those were words I thought I'd never hear out of Selena's mouth.

"Seems weird, huh? Me apologizing, but I'm serious. I've spent the last six years being so incredibly jealous of you that I never actually stopped to have a real conversation."

"So why now? Why would you start saying sorry to me now?"

"Because I'm so tired of fighting, Miley. I'm so tired of everything. Looking back it all seems so pointless, you know? I remember when I first got to join this world; I was coming in to the shadow of the great Miley. Do you realize how intimidating that is? I somehow had to create my own name and the only way I saw to do that was to leech off you."

"That sounds…terrible," I laughed.

"It was," she giggled along with me, "but that still doesn't excuse how I've acted toward you. I've been so jealous of you for so long and I don't want to be anymore. I want you to know that I never understood the way your mind worked or any of the actions you did. You were so far from perfect, you did everything wrong, you had your face plastered on every news outlet for all the wrong reasons, and I could never figure you out. You never flinched, you never cracked, at least as far as I could see and I could never figure out why because I definitely would have.

"So I spent all my time trying to be the opposite of you, I thought I needed to be perfect in order to succeed in this world, you know, the perfect little good girl who didn't have a flaw because that was the only way, in my mind, that I could actually make a name for myself. I always thought it was funny how hard I tried to make myself different than you and it actually worked, except the funny thing was that as hard as I tried to be different than you, it didn't make me any better than you and that stuck with me for a long time and I could never shake that feeling."

"No offense, but I don't really know what you want me to say to you. Do you want an apology? Or…like my life?"

She laughed and shook her head, "I just want to tell you a story of a girl who made some mistakes in her life. And I'm almost done, I promise."

I raised my eyebrows, "Okay then, keep talking."

"Most of all, the thing I wanted to say sorry for Nick."

"Selena, Nick is something you don't have to apologize for, seriously, we're so past that drama," I said quickly, even though I felt much differently, it's not like I could tell her that.

"Yes I do, maybe not for our relationship now, but for everything in the past, I never really confronted it with you and I'm sorry for that. I still don't really see it as I stole Nick from you all those years ago, but I definitely see your point, now that I've grown as a person. I knew he was with you when we began talking and honestly, I saw that more as a challenge, which sounds horrible and I really didn't try to take him, but it just happened and once it did, I didn't want to stop it. I saw it as a win for me, I had chipped away at a little bit of your armor."

I snorted, "I always knew it. Everyone told me I was crazy and paranoid, I definitely called it from a mile away."

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway, "I never wanted to admit it to myself because that seemed so shallow and how could I do that? I was supposed to be the good girl, but I did do it and I'm sorry."

"It's in the past," I said shrugging, "I may seem like a bitch sometimes, but I really don't hold it against you. I have grown just as much as you have over the years."

She looked at me, nodded, but then sighed, "And now to the present."

"Are you still apologizing?"

"Yes, I have a lot of stuff to cover. But anyway, I'm not stupid. I may not know everything that has gone on with you and Nick since you got back, but I know enough to know that he loves you and I've fought that for so long, but I'm going to let him go because he deserves to be happy and he's happy with you. But at the same time, I'm going to give him a choice; I may let him go, but if he comes back to me then I'm going to hold on to him. It's kind of like his last chance I guess."

I sat there in shock, but I couldn't even really comprehend what she was saying. I couldn't really decide whether or not to be upset that she was, in a sense, 'giving' Nick to me because we all knew I've had him since we were thirteen. But she had a point, if she were to just let him go, he wouldn't have all that internal conflict that had kept him from me since we broke up six years ago. He would no longer have to choose between us; though, if she gave him the chance to go back to her, I honestly didn't know which girl he would choose, Nick was far from an open book.

"What do you want me to say, Selena? Honestly, I really don't know what to say at all."

"I know it's weird, but just bare with me. I'm going to talk with Nick tomorrow, after everything calms down. So I guess you should have your answer soon and lucky for you, if he chooses you, because of your break up you'll have nothing standing in your way this time."

I laughed at the irony. She was right, if he did choose me I wouldn't have Nate standing in my way, but I would have the issue of me moving back to London to mess us up quiet a bit. But I didn't want to move back to London just because he didn't choose me, that wasn't the way I wanted to go, I wanted to go because it was right for me, which it was.

"You have really funny timing, you know that?" I laughed, with tears slightly threatening to come out, though I wouldn't let them escape.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Only Demi and Joe know but I'm going back to London tomorrow night…for a while. I'm not sure when I'm going to be back."

Selena looked shocked and she found trouble forming words, "And Nick doesn't know?"

"I was going to tell him tomorrow."

"He was devastated when you left last time without even a goodbye, if you do it again…" she trailed off.

"I won't. I never meant to hurt him last time, and this time I'm not looking to run away, I'm not going to hide this time around."

"Well…stopping the girl you love on an airplane before she flies away across the ocean seems very romantic, something that Nick would do."

I laughed, "Yeah, sure. I doubt it. But please, don't tell him, just let me do it."

"I won't say a word, I promise."

I sighed, "Selena, thank you, for talking with me. I never thought you would, but it means a lot."

I could tell that she was about to respond but then, out of nowhere, Nick appeared and the look on his face was one of alarm. "Hi girls…" he said slowly.

"I'll leave you two," I said, getting up from my chair and beginning to walk away. As I left, I could hear Nick nervously asking what that was about.

Demi ran over to me, looking surprised, "You and Selena?"

"Just clearing up some loose ends," I smiled. "Is it time for my maid of honor speech?"

She nodded slowly and I followed her to the front of the room. I did the traditional clinking of the glass with my knife and the room got quiet.

"Demi and Joe," I began, "I've watched their romance blossom over the years and I'm so happy that they've gotten here, to this moment. I've seen their ups and their downs but I always knew that they would make it. The two of them were always that strong force; the ones that always made me hope that there really was love in the world. I love you both so much and I wish you the best in life. And just remember, if you get any extra toasters, I could really use one. To Demi and Joe!"

I had the crowd smiling and laughing and they all rose their glasses. However, the whole time I was thinking if I would ever get my chance to be Demi. If I could get the chance to ever be that lucky.

If I could ever be that_ happy_.

_**~xoxo~**_

**So it's my birthday tomorrow (technically today since it's already June 23rd on the east coast, even though I'm on the west), my sweet sixteen! It can't hurt to ask for reviews as a present, can it? :)**


	29. Chapter 29

_**I just want to thank everyone so much for all the birthday wishes. My 16th birthday was pretty amazing and all of you made it even better. :)**_

_**~xoxo~**_

I woke up the next morning with a major hangover, but a good feeling in the pit of my stomach. The reception had lasted until three o'clock in the morning when Demi and Joe had finally climbed into their limousine (feeling quite a little bit more than tipsy) and drove down the dark street to where an airplane was waiting for them to take them to their honeymoon location (Jamaica).

As for me, I wasn't on a plane on my way to a sunny island; instead, I was lying in bed, still trying to figure out what went on between Miley and Selena the night before. When I had spotted them talking during the reception, I had almost had a heart attack; surely those two being in the same five-foot radius had trouble written all over it. Though, when I made my way over there, they seemed to be talking amicably, there was no bloodshed as far as I could see. But once Miley got up and left, Selena refused to tell me anything about their conversation, only that I'd find out more tomorrow, which I guess now meant today.

Thankfully the sound of my phone ringing interrupted me running circles around my mind, trying to figure out what went on in both girls' heads. "Hello?"

"Nick! Long time no talk."

"Miley? We talked yesterday, or are you too hung-over to remember?" I asked with a chuckle.

She mustered up the best fake laugh possible before speaking sharply, "Obviously I was using that amazing thing called sarcasm, haven't you heard of it? Nicky, I think the hangover went to _your_ head, not mine."

"Being around you so much has caused me to actually become fluent in it."

"You are so funny," she said dryly.

"So you called for a reason. What can I do for you?"

Her tone immediately became nervous and I could just imagine her picking at the hem of her clothes, trying to make the topic more casual than it apparently was. "I need to talk to you, it's really important."

"Are you okay?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, I'm fine it's just…I need to tell you in person. Can I come over?"

"Yeah, of course you can. Are you sure you can't tell me anything now? You got me worried."

"It's not fair to you to do it over the phone."

If I was slightly worried before, now I was alarmed. What could be so important that it couldn't be said over the phone? "Sure, just give me an hour," I said uncertainly. "I have to get ready, I'm still in bed."

"Okay, if you're going to make me wait, then I expect lunch to be fed to me," Miley said, her attempt to smooth over the awkwardness that had erupted from her previous words.

"You got yourself a deal," I smiled. "I'll call you when I'm ready."

"Okay. See you later," she said quietly. Then she hung up and I was left perplexed. I had a full hour to ready myself for what was promised to be a bombshell, I'm sure.

When I finished the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I planned to feed Miley, I picked up my cell and dialed her number to give her the go-ahead to come on over.

"Miley?" I said into the phone, "I finished the room and I have lunch ready. You can come over when you want."

"Oh I'm already in your driveway. I was just waiting for your call; I was actually just about to burst in, but I was willing to give you five more minutes."

"You're so nice," I chuckled. "Come on in and get your food."

"It's magic!" I heard someone exclaim behind me. Of course it was Miley with a huge grin on her face and her cell phone to her ear. "And I've appeared before your eyes."

"And you think the hangover went to my head?" I asked in disbelief. "Anyway, what have you been up to for the past hour without my amazing company?"

All of a sudden she got really quiet and was suddenly very interested in her hands. "Yeah…about that…"

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly, moving myself closer to her.

"Nick," she said softly, grabbing my hand. I immediately knew something was wrong, she only really used skin contact when we were talking about something deep and emotional, at least these days. "I've been packing."

"Packing for what? Are you going on a trip? Oh, please tell me you're planning to crash Joe and Demi's honeymoon."

She laughed, but it wasn't the usual laugh that I was hoping for. "No, even though Jamaica does sound very nice right now."

"Then where are you going?" I asked curiously.

"Nick…I'm going back to London."

I don't know how long I stood there with that shocked look on my face. I could feel myself back away from Miley as her face turned to one of total sadness. I gripped the counter and my head wouldn't stop spinning. She wasn't supposed to leave again, I felt like I had just gotten her back. This had to be some sort of mistake or something.

"Wh-what?" I finally spit out. "Why? Did I do something? I can change, I'll do whatever you want, just don't leave."

"It's not that easy, Nick. Through these past couple months that I've been back, I slowly realized that I never really found myself, I never figured out who I was supposed to be, which was why I left in the first place. Honestly, here, in this city, with all of you, I don't know who I'm supposed to be or what I'm supposed to do, so I'm going to leave for a little while and actually figure that out this time."

"You can't leave again!" I shouted, without really meaning to, I was just having a lot of trouble taking in what she was saying.

I saw Miley's heart break, it was all over face. That was okay though, because I felt my heart doing the same. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"You can't do this," I whispered, burying my face in my hands. I didn't even want to look at her at the moment, if ever again.

"You can't be mad at me for wanting to get away, for _needing_ to get away. It's not like I'm leaving you this time; it's different, all of this isn't me running from my life, I'm trying to embrace it and this is the only way I know how. You're not willing to fight for me, so I'm not going to try for you anymore."

"What are you talking about?" I asked incredulously, "You've never fought for me. You've had boyfriend after boyfriend and I've waited patiently. Dammit Miley, I was going to ask you to marry me! But you ran away, so you don't get to say that I've never fought for you."

She looked like she was about ready to slap me across the face. "Buying a ring isn't fighting for me, Nick. And as for all of my boyfriends, you knew you always had me whenever you wanted me and if I remember right, you took advantage of that fact multiple times. So how dare you try and tell me that you've fought for me, because all you've ever had to do was show up and I was yours."

"You took off to London the first time!"

"And yet, you say you wanted to marry me, but I never saw you on my doorstep with that ring. That would have been fighting for me, Nick. But instead, you stayed here in Los Angeles, starting dating Selena again, and went back to thinking that life was perfect and you forced me out of your mind because I would just mess things up for you again. I would ruin your perfect little bubble."

"You're being ridiculous," I scoffed, "You've always been Miley."

"What the hell does that mean?" she yelled.

"You've always been a tease when it comes to me! I can look, but I can't touch."

She was fuming, and she replied in a dangerously low voice, "I can't believe you."

"Well what do you want me to say? You come in here and tell me that you're leaving because I haven't fought for you, what do you expect me to do now? How am I supposed to fight for you now that you're leaving? I already asked you to stay."

Miley looked like she was about to cry. I swore that I even saw tears threatening to escape her eyes. "You're supposed to choose me, Nick. You're supposed to show up at the airport right before I get on and stop me. You are supposed to say how much you love me and how stupid you were for not acting sooner. That's how you fight for me."

Then, she stood up from the barstool she was sitting in and left. Before she turned around the corner that would take her out of the house, however, I frustratingly yelled, "You could at least tell me what time your flight is at!"

"Five o'clock tonight, terminal B, gate twenty-three," she shouted back, and I could hear the anger and sadness laced in her tone and I knew I was the one to cause.

"Dammit," I cursed, pounding my fist against the counter. That would only give me literally four hours to make a decision. This was definitely not the way all of this was supposed to go; she should have stayed and we should have talked about this. I glanced at the sandwiches that were sitting on the counter and I rolled my eyes, making those was a total waste of time. I stood there for a long time (a full two and a half hours, it had to be some sort of a record), just leaning against the counter with my head in my hands.

"Nick?" a timid voice asked, somewhere behind me. At first, I looked up and turned around, hoping to see Miley, but instead it was Selena. My face fell at first, but I mustered up the best smile I could soon afterward.

"Hey Selena," I replied tiredly.

She looked at me curiously for several seconds before a look of realization crossed over her face. "Miley came and talked to you."

"What?" I asked sharply. "How do you know what's going on with her?"

She shrugged, "She told me yesterday, at the reception."

"Why would she tell you? No offense or anything, but you two aren't exactly best friends."

"Because I told her that if you chose her, she could have you. She said it didn't matter anyway because she was leaving."

Selena slowly took several steps toward me and placed her hand gently on my forearm. I sighed and said, "I'm sorry Selena, for everything."

"It's okay if you love her," she said softly.

"But I shouldn't. I should love you."

"Who gets to determine that, though? Who gets to say who you love? I think love is something that just happens, and you can't decide which way it's all going to turn out because it does whatever it wants."

"I really wanted to love you because it's easy with you, and isn't that how it should be? I mean, being in a relationship shouldn't be hard."

"But even if it is hard, it wouldn't be wrong. You know, I used to think the same way you are. I thought our relationship was perfect because it was so…easy and it just worked. I fully expected to walk in here today and fight for you; I was going to say how much I loved you and how much I wanted you to love me back and that I wanted you to choose me over her. But I walked in and I saw your face and all of that went out the window because you love Miley. I've always had to deal with that and I thought I could overlook it, I've always thought that, ever since we first dated, but I can't anymore. I can't look the other way and pretend that it's not there. I want to be the girl that gets chosen, and not just as a last resort. I need to be the Miley to someone else's Nick, so I'm letting you go. The proverbial rope that is our relationship, is now gone. So, you're free to chase after her."

I waited as her words sunk in. Technically I just got dumped, but I wasn't even feeling very sad about it. "I wish I could have been better to you. You deserve someone better."

She shrugged, "I wish you could have too, and I do deserve someone better, I don't deny it, but I'll find him. It's funny though, I'm not completely blameless in my role as your girlfriend, I let this relationship carry on as much as you did. But I do remember the first time I really realized that I would never really be yours."

"When was that?" I asked curiously.

"I was looking for something in your room, I can't even remember what now, but I was going through your sock drawer and I found this little, black box. Of course I knew what it was immediately and I couldn't help but pick it up as carefully as possible and just stare at it. I didn't open the box for a while, but I was so convinced it was for me. I started imagining myself walking down the aisle and you were at the end of it, and then I was dreaming of a white-picket fence with a dog and a couple kids and I was so happy. Then I convinced myself that it wouldn't hurt to look at the ring, just a quick little peek and then I'd pretend I had never saw it.

"But then I found myself trying it on and it didn't really fit and then I realized something was off. An engagement ring shouldn't not fit, that had to be bad luck or something, but then as I was fumbling with it, I saw an engraving on the inside of the band, and I'm sure you know what I read."

"_Miley, I'll love you forever and always, Nick_," I whispered, too embarrassed about the fact that she had found the ring to look at her in the eye.

"Yep," Selena replied simply, "it was for Miley, of course. I felt so stupid that I had thought it was for me. So I put it back in the little, black box and put the box back in the drawer and pushed it out of my mind. But when she showed up again in California, I was reminded of it constantly and now I give up. You should be happy, I should be happy, and we're not happy together."

"What am I supposed to do, Selena?" I asked exasperatingly. "She's going back to London, I bet she's already left her house. Am I supposed to race to the airport, stop her plane from leaving, and declare my undying love for her?"

She flinched when I openly admitted that I loved her, but she tried to keep it in. Then she shrugged and said, "They call it a cliché for a reason, Nick."

"I just…I don't know…"

She laughed and shook her head, "And you wonder why Miley thinks you don't fight for her. I'm going to go, I think I've broken up with you sufficiently enough and I don't really want to turn into the girl you ask for advice when it comes to Miley because as much as I'm glad I'm finally out of this toxic relationship, it's a little weird giving you dating advice."

As she walked away, I called after her and said, "Selena, I am sorry."

"I know you are," she said quietly, "I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. There's nothing we can do about that." She gave me a forced smile and then walked out. However, it couldn't have been more than a minute later that my phone buzzed with a text message. It read:

_If you choose to go after her, you should leave now. You'll be lucky to get through traffic and make it there in time to catch her._

With that one text, I immediately knew what I was supposed to do.

I had to get to the airport.

I couldn't mess around anymore, I couldn't let her go again; if she wanted me to fight for her, then I would damn well fight.

Selena was right though, traffic was a nightmare getting to LAX, and by the time I made it there, I only had thirty minutes to get to her gate. I ran to the security checkpoint, but of course, I was stopped right away.

"Excuse me, son, but where do you think you're going?"

"I need to get to terminal B, gate twenty-three in the next thirty minutes!" I exclaimed, slightly out of breath.

The beefy man raised his eyebrows, "Do you have a ticket?"

I faltered, "Uh, no, but you don't understand. If I don't reach her plane before it leaves, she'll never know how I feel and she'll leave for London thinking that I don't love her and that I don't care and she'll think I didn't fight for her and that would be a very bad thing."

The security guard looked sympathetic, but he remained adamant on his position. "I'll tell you what, you go get yourself a ticket, and I'll let you through and get you an escort all the way down to your girl's gate. No one will be yelling at you for running in the halls, I promise, but unfortunately, it's against the federal law to let you through here without a ticket."

I groaned, but complied anyway. I took off towards whatever the place is called where you can buy a ticket and got one as quickly as possible. Of course, it was just my luck that their computers were running slow and the lady helping me was too busy smacking her gum to move the process along any faster.

I finally got my victory when I held the precious ticket in my hands and I ran off back to the security checkpoint. The man smiled and let me through; I went through all of the security procedures (which thoroughly drained me) but I was compensated when I saw a small golf cart waiting for me. The man that had helped me get through this part of the airport called over to me and said, "Son, this will be much faster than running and the driver knows exactly where he's taking you. I hope you get your girl."

"Thanks!" I yelled back at him and sat in the passenger seat of the car. We sped past numerous gates and I saw that number twenty-three was coming steadily closer.

I checked my watch and realized that I was five minutes late; I just had to pray that the airplane was running slightly behind.

_**~xoxo~**_

**Don't you all just love cliffhangers? ;)**

**Review?**


	30. Chapter 30

_**Wow, so much for updating quick. Honestly, I don't really know why it took me so long to update this, maybe because it's the last chapter and I felt like I had to get it perfect (yet still I've read it over a million times and I still can't decide whether I like the way I ended it or if I hate it). Anyway, enjoy. :)**_

_**Ps. Thanks so much for the 300+ reviews!**_

_**~xoxo~**_

I leaned my head against the window of the stationary airplane and gazed out at the tarmac at all of the other planes leaving the ground. I was surprised at the way the entire situation had turned out so far; I honestly believed that Nick would show up and declare his undying love for me and we would ride off into the sunset together.

Or at least something like that.

But he didn't, and now I was sitting in the semi-uncomfortable airplane seat contemplating how depressing my life would end up being starting that moment. What was even more depressing was that I didn't even have anyone sitting next to me on the plane (which was extremely rare) to distract me. I was destined to be a loner for the rest of my life.

I was pulled out of my angst-filled silence when one of the women I recognized from the desk outside of the terminal ran onto the plane, a little out of breath. She whispered something to the flight attendant and I watched as she raised her eyebrows. The flight attendant gave a nod and turned back to the passengers.

"Is there a Miley here?" she yelled, walking down the aisle of the plane.

I sat up slightly and replied, "Yes, I'm Miley. Is there something wrong?"

My hopes were raised and I attempted to keep from smiling too much. Nick had actually shown up. In that moment, I realized that I had never been convinced that he was going to show up; I thought that I was sure he would, but I guess that was just my heart getting the better of me.

The flight attendant, Mary, smiled and said, "You left your bag out by the chairs. Someone found it and turned it in and they found something inside that had your name on it. This is yours right?"

"Uh…yeah," I said slowly, my smile fading as I reached for the bag in her hand. I must have been so wrapped up in my head that when I grabbed my purse, I forgot my extra bag.

My heart sunk (or stopped, I wasn't entirely sure what that feeling in my chest was) and I just stared at the forgotten object as I put it in my lap. The girl gave me a weird look, like she didn't understand why I wasn't more happy about the fact that I didn't lose my bag, but then she walked away and signaled to her coworkers to get the flight going.

I felt the plane shift and before I knew it, we were slowly backing out and on our way to the runway. Suddenly, I felt all of my dreams for my future pretty much die; which does sound pathetic, but that was my life now. So Nick didn't show up, which now meant that I had to figure out how my life was going to go from now on.

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in London, as much as I loved it, I knew that I belonged back in the United States eventually. Maybe I would spend a year away and get myself together, then go back. Although, it's not like I would be willing to go back to where Nick and Selena were living happily, probably engaged, or married (because that's just the way my life worked out).

I could always move to New York, I always loved the city; or Tennessee even, I could buy a cute house with a large amount of acreage and maybe even some horses. I would finally get my white-picket fence and I could even possibly meet my future husband, the guy that would make me forget about Nick.

'That's a good plan,' I thought quietly to myself as I settled into my seat. 'It may not be what I first imagined, but it was good enough for now.'

After making a quick stop in New York, the plane was off again to our scheduled destination and eleven hours later, I was stepping out of the London airport into the pouring rain. The only thing that had made me smile since the false alarm on the airplane was seeing Alexa and Kristen standing outside of their car, under umbrellas, with huge grins on their faces.

I quickly ran over and engulfed them in a huge hug. One of them, I wasn't sure which one because of all the rain and hair in my face, exclaimed, "I knew you would come back!"

"Yes, well, I can't stay in the same place for too long," I said quietly, forcing a laugh.

"Well get in!" Alexa said, gesturing to her car. It was weird seeing her get in on the 'wrong side'. I guess once you're an American, you're always an American.

"So, do you want to get a really late lunch?" Kristen asked, lounging in the front seat as she smiled back at me.

"Lunch?" I asked curiously. "Isn't it kind of early?"

They both laughed but then Kristen answered, "Miley, it's like four o'clock. Time change, remember?"

"Oh, right…"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

I shrugged, "Why not? I slept on the plane a little bit so I should be good for another couple of hours before I crash."

"Yay!" they both exclaimed happily and then they began to chatter away and I was able to tune them out somewhat. It was weird being back, it didn't feel right. It wasn't like when I went back to Los Angeles because then it felt like coming home after a very long vacation; here just felt unnatural.

The three of us had a quick meal that was dragged on by our endless conversation, though I wasn't as in to it as they were and when they asked about it, I blamed it on tiredness. They then forced me to go home and rest, so I was in a cab on my way back to the house that I never ended up selling when I dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" Demi answered cheerfully.

"Hey Demi, it's not too early right? I have to get used to the time change again."

"Oh no, I'm already laying in the sun. It's absolutely wonderful."

"You're a lucky girl, I'm looking out into the depressing rain that is covering London right now. I would kill to be laying out by the beach."

I heard Demi pause, then she said, "So Nick didn't show up at the airport?"

"No," I replied, trying to sound as happy as possible because I obviously didn't want her honeymoon to be ruined by my nonexistent love life. "But it's fine, I guess he just wasn't my happy ending. I'm sure I'll find the right guy eventually."

"I just thought…I don't know, I guess I was pretty convinced that he would show up," she said quietly.

"You and me both. But really, I'm totally fine. I just wanted to call to check in and let you know that I got here safe and sound and I'll keep in touch."

"I'll come visit you as soon as possible, I promise."

"No, no. You need to enjoy your life as a married woman right now. Don't worry about me, Demi, I'm a big girl. I can handle it; you just need to focus on yourself and your life right now."

"My life includes you, you know!" she exclaimed while laughing. "You're my best friend, I'm going to visit you whether you like it or not."

"You are so difficult."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard that before."

"So how is Joe?"

"Tired," Demi smirked. "I think I've already worn him out. He's still sleeping."

"What have I told you about things that fall under the category of 'too much information'? You really need a filter in your brain."

"And what have I told you about the fact that there is no such thing as 'too much information' between best friends?"

Her comment made me laugh because I guess she was right, nothing was too much between us. "I'm so happy for you, Demi. I really hope that you make me an aunt soon."

"Oh, no. Don't even start me on that; I'm waiting at least two more years before I even think about having kids that are going to have half of Joe's genes."

"They're going to be gorgeous kids."

"Yeah, and crazy. I definitely need a little more life experience before I can deal with that," she said with a laugh.

"You're going to be a great mom and wife," I sighed. "You better stop being so perfect before I get insanely jealous of your life."

Demi answered in a sympathetic tone, "Miles, you're going to find your guy and you're going to live happily ever after and I'll get to be _your_ maid of honor. You just have to have a little faith."

"We'll see," I said softly.

I heard someone talking on the line, a voice that wasn't Demi's and then she said, "Joe's awake, sorry Miley but I have to go. We have a skydiving plane waiting for us, so we have to get ready."

"Oh of course! Just don't die when you jump out of the plane," I joked.

"I promise," she laughed, "I love you Miley, stay strong."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah." And then I hung up my phone. The cab driver pulled to the side of the road and I realized that we had arrived at my house. I had been gone for so long that I didn't even notice we had gotten there.

I paid him the fee and said, "Thank you very much."

"Anytime, miss. Try and stay dry out in that rain."

I laughed, "I'll try." I climbed out of the car and ran as fast as I could to my doorstep. I had shielded my face from the rain but when I looked up, I was stunned by what I saw.

Nick was sitting, huddling underneath the overhang trying to avoid the rain, on my doorstep, waiting for me; he looked so innocent as he sat there, but so lost, like he wasn't sure if he really belonged there.

As I walked up, he noticed me and immediately stood up. "Miley!"

"Nick?" I asked slowly, not really quite believing that he was actually sitting there.

"I'm so, so sorry. I promise I tried to get there, but you can't imagine the bad luck that I had!" he exclaimed quickly, as if pleading with me to believe that he never meant to let me get on that plane back to London.

I took a deep breath and, still sort of unsure if he was just a hallucination, said, "Why don't we get out of the rain and go inside?"

He nodded and looked relieved at the fact that I was going to be willing to talk to him. I fumbled around in my purse for my keys and my hands trembled as I began to unlock my door. "Sorry if it feels…empty. I haven't been here in a while, obviously."

"It's fine to me," he said shyly, trying to keep out of my way as I began to turn on all the lights I could reach.

"Let's go to the living room…it's this way," I said awkwardly and I gestured to the room right off of the front entryway.

As he followed me, I immediately began to try and think of ideas on how to fill the awkward silence that had filled the room.

"Are you mad?" he asked tentatively, causing me to jump because part of me didn't expect him to say anything first.

I shook my head, but I thought over my reply before answering his question, "I'm just…confused. What happened?"

"Basically I got to the airport and they forced me to buy a ticket before I could get through security but of course by that time, I had just barely missed your flight. I literally watched it fly away from the window. I then took the next flight out here, which was an hour later, and then I actually had to find your house, which isn't as easy as it seems. So finally I've been sitting out here for an hour waiting for you to come home."

He said it all so quickly that I had trouble taking it all in. "So…what you're saying is that you chose me? You actually _chose_ me?"

"Of course I chose you, Miley. I've made plenty of mistakes when it comes to you and, honestly, I'm tired of it. I just want to be with you and I know that now and I'm sorry for everything that I've ever done to you."

"You and Selena…are done? Because I swear to God, Nicholas, if this is some sort of cruel joke, I will murder you, and I won't make it quick."

He chuckled and took a hesitant step forward; a part of me wanted to take a step back, because I still wasn't sure if this was real or not, but I forced myself to stay where I was and I looked him straight in the eye, waiting to see what kind of reply he could come up with.

"We're done, Miles. We had a good talk, I said some things and she said some things, and we both decided that it wasn't worth it to keep the relationship going when there wasn't much left to salvage. I'm not letting you go this time, if you forgive me this time, I promise I won't hurt you again."

"You can't promise that," I said softly. "You've said that before and look where we are now."

Now Nick came so close that he intertwined our hands together and our noses were close to touching. He forced me to look directly at him and said, "It won't happen again. I love you too much to let it happen again. You were right, what you said yesterday, I haven't ever fought for you and I'm sorry, but that is going to change now and you're just going to have to trust me."

I raised my eyebrows, "Trust you?"

He rolled his eyebrows, "I know it's somewhat of a foreign concept for you, but I'd like it if you tried it out."

"I think I can try it," I smiled.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

He then captured my lips in a fiery kiss that seemed to last forever, though this time I knew that if we wanted it to, it could. There was nothing stopping us, no significant others, or bodies of water separating our continents, or, most of all, Nick now seemed willing to let go of anything holding him back; all of his hesitations towards us being a couple.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around my waist; I leaned my forehead so that it rested against his once we broke the kiss. "Can I please tell you that I love you?"

"Don't you think it's too soon?"

"Come on, Miles, it's us! It's always been there, you and I," he said while tucking a small strand of hair behind my ear. "So I'm going to ask again, can I tell you how much I love you?"

I sighed but nodded slightly, though I noticed that I couldn't help but let a small grin creep onto my face.

"Well good, because I love you, Miley. Forever and always."

"Forever and always, huh?"

"Pretty much; I always have."

"I'm glad then," I laughed, "because I love you too."

"…and?" he asked with a cheesy smile on his face, urging me to continue my statement as if I had something else to say.

I rolled my eyes and finally said, "Forever and always."

"So what now? Do you want to stay in London? Go back to California? Hide out in China? It's totally up to you."

I disentangled myself from him and strayed over to the window; I felt like that's what those troubled actresses did in their television shows or movies whenever they had to contemplate a difficult question. "I can't ask you to completely pick up your life just for me."

"Miley, you have to understand that I don't care what I have to do. Right now is about you and what's best for you, and I'll factor myself in."

"I just don't want to scare you off."

"Hey…" he said quietly, "I'm not going to get scared off, okay? I love you too much, remember?"

"Well then I want to stay here, in London. If that's okay."

"You better help me shop, then."

"For what?" I asked curiously.

"Well now that I've got you, there's no way I'm going to leave you here while I go back to California to get my stuff, so I'll just get all new stuff."

I laughed, "Nick, I'm not going anywhere if you leave for a little while. I'll just be here, most likely looking for a job."

"I'm not taking that risk," he winked, then he took the last couple of steps that separated us and wrapped me in his arms again. "So I like it here, it feels like home."

I scoffed, "Funny joke, this is just a place that I live sometimes when I'm running from life, I wouldn't really call it home."

"Then where is home?"

I thought about it for a minute, in fact I didn't even answer his question for a little while because I truly had to think about where I believed home to be. When I finally came up with what I thought was a good enough answer, I immediately pulled him aside and looked into his awaiting eyes.

"I guess home is where love is and right now, that's with you."

**_~xoxo~_**

**I don't know how many of you guys experience this, but do you ever come up with this absolutely perfect scene and you can picture it in your mind, but when it comes to writing it, it just comes out awkward and totally less than perfect? I think that's how I felt about this chapter and it took me a little while to get over it and just update it. If you could, maybe you all can picture it as the end of a movie where the dramatic music is playing and there is about a thousand different camera angles that make it seems like it it's everything you could ever hope for. :)**

**I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed and just took the time to enjoy the story because it means the world to me. When I write, I do it to work through everything I'm dealing with and it feels good to know that other people are enjoying my writing. This story started out as a small idea and I had no idea how much of myself that I would end up putting into it because, honestly, this story has become such a large part of my life and it's always going to be there to remind me of that part of myself.**

**One last thing, I don't know if I'm going to be writing for a little while. I don't know if it's like 'retirement' or anything, but my life got really good over the past year and I feel like it's time to move forward and I don't know if fanfiction is a priority anymore. I'll always have ideas floating around in my head, so who knows? Maybe I'll be back in just a couple months with a new story, but for now, I'm going to say goodbye.**

**xoxo ~ Emily**


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